Sophie Cunningham’s stance on protecting women’s sports has become a major flash point across the WNBA, and the backlash followed her supporters to Minnesota on Sunday.
Women’s sports advocates gathered peacefully outside Target Center ahead of the Indiana Fever’s game against the Minnesota Lynx, wearing XX-XY Athletics shirts and holding signs with slogans like “Pro-Women, Not Anti-Trans” and “Trust the Science.”
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Sophie Cunningham supporters show up for the Fever star. (XX-XY Athletics)
It marked the third rally organized in support of Cunningham since the Fever guard publicly said young female athletes “shouldn’t have to go against biological men.”
But trans activists gathered nearby were considerably less interested in peaceful disagreement.
Video from outside the arena shows counterprotesters shouting through megaphones, hurling slurs and attempting to rip XX-XY shirts from the hands of Cunningham’s supporters. One man held a fan displaying the word “C—T” over the women’s heads.
At one point, an activist became physical with a supporter, forcing security personnel to intervene.
Pro-trans protester harasses Sophie Cunningham supporter through megaphone. (XX-XY Athletics)
So much for love and tolerance.
The Minnesota confrontation followed similar scenes surrounding Fever games in Seattle and Portland.
During the first rally in Seattle, two teenage girls later attended the game wearing XX-XY shirts and holding a sign that read, “Thank You Sophie For Speaking Up For Girls.” Storm minority owner Celeste Keaton allegedly approached the girls courtside, cursed at them and called them “f—ing insane,” leaving one of them in tears.
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The WNBA subsequently fined the Storm and suspended Keaton from attending the team’s next five home games.
XX-XY Athletics’ Jennifer Sey poses with a Sophie Cunningham poster. (XX-XY Athletics)
Supporters rallied again Friday outside Portland’s Moda Center, where trans activists interrupted speakers, cursed at reporters and confronted attendees. Inside the arena, Cunningham was relentlessly booed whenever she entered the game or touched the ball.
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Cunningham, however, made it clear before the Portland game that she had no intention of backing down.
“I’m here to play basketball, but I’m also here to be me,” she said. “I’m not going to, like, shadow that or hide or, you know, dim my light just because maybe people don’t agree with that.”