The WNBA admitted Monday that league security improperly forced a mother and her teenage daughter to cover their XX-XY Athletics shirts during Sunday's game between the Indiana Fever and Atlanta Dream.
"The WNBA is aware of interactions at last night's game in Atlanta in which fans were asked by league security to cover their shirts," a WNBA spokesperson said in a statement provided to OutKick. "This should not have happened."
The WNBA's admission is as damning as it is simple: its own security forced paying fans to cover shirts supporting women's sports.
OutKick's Jon Root first detailed the incident involving Georgia resident Kasey Thomason and her 17-year-old daughter, Annie, who were sitting courtside during Indiana's 95-91 victory when security confronted them in overtime. The pair wore XX-XY Athletics shirts backing Fever guard Sophie Cunningham and her stance on protecting female athletics. The shirts have become a symbol of the WNBA's trans dilemma, exposing an uncomfortable question for a women's basketball league struggling to define who belongs in women's sports.
They wore them for four quarters without issue. Then, in overtime, Kasey said a fan complained and security issued an ultimatum: cover up with Dream shirts or get tossed.
"Biology and science is offensive?" Kasey recalled responding. To watch the conclusion, they reluctantly put on the Dream shirts.
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The WNBA admitted security crossed the line. But that only raises a bigger question: How did a women's basketball league reach the point where stating biological reality became grounds for security intervention?
Cunningham sparked national debate weeks ago by voicing support for keeping biological males out of women's sports.
The controversy even prompted a WNBA task force discussion among team executives, while the league denounced what it called "bad-faith efforts" to use the transgender-athlete debate to demean or marginalize others.
But the debate hasn't remained confined to league statements and meetings.
Less than three weeks ago, Seattle Storm minority co-owner Celeste Keaton confronted two teenage girls wearing XX-XY Athletics gear and supporting Cunningham at a Fever-Storm game. The Storm subsequently apologized, and the WNBA fined Keaton an undisclosed amount and suspended her from attending five home games. Now, another mother and teenage daughter backing the same cause were confronted at a WNBA game — this time by league security.
Kasey said she believed a nearby fan wearing a "Protect Trans Rights" shirt had complained. The Thomasons could not confirm whether security also instructed that fan to cover her shirt, though they said they later noticed her jacket zipped over it.
State Farm Arena policy prohibits clothing displaying explicit language, profanity or derogatory characterizations, while the NBA Fan Code of Conduct prohibits obscene or indecent messages on clothing.
According to Kasey, security cited neither policy, instead telling the pair their shirts were "offensive."
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That's the larger problem for the WNBA: its identity crisis over women's sports just got uglier, with league security now going after fans for defending them.
Forcing fans to cover XX-XY shirts wasn't merely a questionable judgment call. By the WNBA's own admission, it crossed the line.
"This should not have happened."
OutKick has requested additional comment from the WNBA on why security ordered the fans to cover their shirts, what policy they were believed to have violated and whether the league is investigating the incident.
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