At State Farm Arena in Atlanta on Sunday, a security guard told Georgia fan Kasey Thomason and her 17-year-old daughter Annie to cover their XX-XY Athletics shirts during overtime of the Indiana Fever–Atlanta Dream game, or be escorted out. The Thomasons wore the shirts to support Fever guard Sophie Cunningham. In late July, Cunningham told ESPN she wanted to "protect young girls in a locker room, or young girls in sport who shouldn't have to go against biological men" — and a movement formed around her. They covered up; Indiana won 95–91 in overtime. The Atlanta Dream has not publicly responded. The WNBA has no written transgender athlete eligibility policy.

1. The Shirts Are Women's Advocacy (Jennifer Sey, Sophie Cunningham, XX-XY Fans)

The shirts express a biology-based position on women's sports, and supporters say the arena asking them to cover up proved their point.

XX-XY Athletics sells a mission, not a slur. Jennifer Sey, who founded XX-XY Athletics in 2024, says the brand has one argument: "It's not a transgender policy. It's a no men in women's sports policy we want." The brand's stated mission: "Sex matters. It is the single biggest determinant of athletic performance. It is unfair and dangerous to allow males (XY) to compete in girls and women's (XX) sports."

Cunningham's July comments turned the shirts into a movement. After her ESPN interview, XX-XY sold roughly 7,000 shirts. Sey organized "Sophie Night" rallies outside Fever games; counter-protesters at the Target Center in Minneapolis tore supporters' signs and followed them to their cars. Cunningham says she doesn't hate anyone: "I think that I am here to extend love. But I also think with that love is truth, being honest."

Thomason says the enforcement was a double standard. She told the security guard: "Biology and science is offensive?" She says a fan wearing a "Protect Trans Rights" shirt appeared on the arena's video board before security approached Thomason. Supporters say the incident shows the league is already picking sides — enforcing an unwritten preference rather than a written rule.

2. But the WNBA Calls That Bad Faith (WNBA, Stephanie White)

The league says the campaign targets a problem that doesn't exist in professional women's basketball.

No transgender woman has ever played in the WNBA. The league's task force noted explicitly that there are "no immediate eligibility matters affecting the WNBA." Two former NBA players declared themselves WNBA-eligible by identifying as women; both were rejected. This threat is entirely hypothetical.

This campaign targets the WNBA's identity, not a real competitive threat. The league's August 13 statement, issued under Commissioner Cathy Engelbert, denounced "bad-faith efforts to use these topics to demean or marginalize others." The WNBA has a substantial LGBTQ+ fan base and a history of openly gay and bisexual players. Supporters of the league's stance say the shirts are meant to make LGBTQ+ fans feel unwelcome — not to raise a genuine competitive-fairness argument.

Cunningham's public statements forced her own team to distance itself. Head coach Stephanie White publicly criticized "hate, the fearmongering, the divisiveness" targeting the league. Her coach's response makes clear the fight is straining the Fever from the inside.

3. And Clark Says: Leave It to the League (Caitlin Clark)

The league's biggest name says leagues, not players or protesters, should set the rules — and the league hasn't.

The league should be setting this policy, not its players. Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark said as much when reporters pressed her on Cunningham's comments. Her answer: policy is for "leagues and governing bodies to work with their athletes to find solutions." Her focus is on basketball.

The task force met last Wednesday and left with nothing. Team presidents and general managers convened August 13, discussed the issue, and emerged with a statement but no eligibility rules. The 2026 collective bargaining agreement says only "women" may play in the WNBA, but doesn't define the word. That gap will eventually require an answer.

The WNBA's audience now splits between two very different communities. One is the longtime LGBTQ+ base that sustained the league through decades of low ratings. The other is the mainstream audience that arrived with Caitlin Clark in 2024. The shirt ban exposed that tension: the league has no policy, and no eligibility rule will fully satisfy both communities.

Where This Lands

Jennifer Sey and Sophie Cunningham say XX-XY shirts are biology-based advocacy for women's rights, and banning them while allowing other messages is suppression. The WNBA says the campaign is bad-faith targeting of a league with no active trans eligibility issue, designed to make LGBTQ+ fans unwelcome. Caitlin Clark says the policy question belongs with leagues, not players — and the league has yet to set one. The 2026 CBA says only women may play in the WNBA without defining "woman"; every side in this fight is arguing over that gap.

Sources