Georgia residents Kasey Thomason and her daughter Annie wore XX-XY Athletics shirts to an Atlanta Dream–Indiana Fever game on Sunday, August 16. XX-XY Athletics is a brand founded by former elite gymnast Jennifer Sey to advocate for women-only sports. A security guard told them during overtime the shirts were "offensive" and ordered them to put on Dream shirts or leave. The WNBA acknowledged Monday that "this should not have happened." The Thomasons called it a non-apology on August 18. It's the latest flare-up in months of WNBA controversy. Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham publicly said she wants to protect young girls from having to compete against biological men. Former NBA players Enes Kanter Freedom and Royce White declared themselves eligible for the WNBA draft, claiming to identify as women. The league has no written policy on who qualifies.

1. Women's Sports Advocates (Jennifer Sey, Sophie Cunningham, Riley Gaines, the Thomason family)

Wearing a shirt that says women's sports is for women should not be offensive at a women's basketball game.

The shirt wasn't a slur — it was a brand. Kasey Thomason said she was "flabbergasted" that security flagged it. The guard called the shirts "offensive" but gave no explanation of what made them so.

The WNBA's statement didn't go far enough. The family called it a non-apology. They wanted an explanation of why the guard considered the shirts hostile, and a commitment to prevent it from happening again. The WNBA offered neither.

Jennifer Sey says this fight is bigger than Atlanta. The XX-XY Athletics founder told Yahoo Sports the brand is about protecting women's sports broadly — "bigger than the WNBA." Sophie Cunningham's ESPN interview set the stage: she said she wants to protect young girls from having to compete against biological men. Riley Gaines has attended Fever games in XX-XY apparel and appeared alongside Cunningham at games. She has publicly called on Caitlin Clark and Simone Biles to join the cause.

2. But LGBTQ Fans Say the League Is No Longer Theirs (WNBPA, Stephanie White, 19th News, The Intercept)

XX-XY Athletics isn't a neutral brand — Jennifer Sey built it to oppose transgender women in sports, and LGBTQ fans who've called the WNBA home for decades can read that message.

LGBTQ fans have long called the WNBA home. The 19th News and The Intercept both report that LGBTQ fans are now asking whether that's still true. Many say they're not sure anymore.

The players' association doesn't want the league used as a political stage. The WNBPA said players "will not be used as political pawns" and explicitly condemned "hate, abuse, and demonization of any person or group of people, including transgender people." Indiana Fever head coach Stephanie White put it directly: "The hate, the fearmongering, the divisiveness, the stuff that's trying to hijack our league will not win."

There's no real eligibility problem — only a manufactured one, critics say. No transgender woman has ever played in the WNBA's 30-year history. Two nonbinary players — former WNBA guard Layshia Clarendon and forward AD Durr, both assigned female at birth — have played. The Intercept argues that outside advocacy networks are using the WNBA as a culture-war stage, not responding to any actual competitive threat.

3. And the WNBA Still Hasn't Said What It Believes (Commissioner Cathy Engelbert, the team presidents' task force)

The league told fans the shirts are fine and told the world it values inclusion — but it hasn't resolved what it will do when those two positions collide.

The WNBA task force met and produced nothing. Team presidents and general managers gathered on August 12 to discuss transgender eligibility — and issued a statement saying there are "no immediate eligibility matters," which is a way of declining to decide. The league hasn't defined "woman" in its eligibility rules, even though its 2026 collective bargaining agreement requires players to be women.

The WNBA is saying two things that don't fit together. It says fans can wear XX-XY shirts, and it denounces "bad-faith efforts to demean and marginalize others" — in the same breath. Commissioner Cathy Engelbert sent a memo to all teams reaffirming inclusive values without committing to any specific policy.

Legal pressure is building. Sportico's sports-law reporters say the WNBA's vague eligibility language leaves the league legally exposed. The 2026 CBA says players must be women but doesn't define the term, which means a formal eligibility challenge — from Kanter, White, or anyone else — would force the league into a legal definition it has never had to write.

Where This Lands

Women's sports advocates say the WNBA's silence on eligibility is the core problem — if the league can't define who it's for, it can't protect itself. LGBTQ inclusion advocates say the silence is actually the safer path, because no transgender woman has tried to play in 30 years and outside groups are driving this controversy — not any real competitive dispute. The WNBA has answered the narrow question: fans can wear the shirts. The broader one is still open — what does the league mean by "women only," and what happens when someone forces it to say?

Sources