They Didn’t Need a Memo

The aftermath of Sunday’s Atlanta Dream vs Indiana Fever game has been a clinic in institutional weaseling. A Georgia mom and her 17-year-old daughter paid real money for seats two rows from the floor — the tickets were $1000 each! They wore XX-XY Athletics shirts supporting Sophie Cunningham’s statements about protecting women’s sports and spaces. In overtime, WNBA security approached them, declared the shirts “offensive” and offered a choice: put on the provided Dream “Wellness & Health Night” tees or get escorted out. They complied so they wouldn’t miss the last two minutes of the very close game (Indiana pulled it out and won 95-91.)

The WNBA’s statement was a classic non-apology: “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. This should not have happened.”

No we apologize.

No we told them to do it and we were wrong.

No we are sorry to the paying fans that they were told they couldn’t wear a t-shirt supporting female athletes.

None of that. Just a late admission that their own people overstepped — after the video of Kasey Thomason and her daughter Annie was already circulating.

I would argue that while there may have been specific direction to security to censor pro-woman messaging and for camera guys to skip over any support for XX-XY and save women’s sports messaging . . . it probably wasn’t even required. These institutions are so thoroughly captured that security and camera guys wouldn’t even need explicit orders. They already know which messages are forbidden. Which t-shirt to censor. Which people to skip in the broadcast.

Because let’s be clear — they showed a woman in a “Trans kids belong in sports” shirt repeatedly on the national broadcast. This didn’t go both ways, as some are now claiming (I’ll get to that).

And, for the record, I think anyone should be able to wear any damn thing they want to wear to the game! MAGA hats, pussy hats, rainbow tees, wear it all. And act like adults and sit next to each other and don’t snitch to security and just sit there and eat your popcorn, drink your beer and enjoy the game.

The Atlanta Dream, at least, understood the stakes. They immediately distanced themselves from the whole kerfuffle with this statement: “The Atlanta Dream believes in creating a safe and inclusive environment for everyone. Unfortunately, at last night’s game, WNBA security took actions that fell short of that standard. At no point was Dream personnel involved in the decisions made by WNBA security.”

If that wasn’t a Sophie finger point directly at the WNBA I don’t know what would be.

The Atlanta Dream called the league out and they were right to do it. They have fans of every kind — from all backgrounds, with all sorts of beliefs — and they don’t want to lose the ones who still believe girls deserve their own category. The WNBA should take the lesson.

Then came the both-sides maneuver. ESPN reported that “at least three fans were asked by WNBA security personnel to cover shirts that had messages about transgender women participating in women’s sports,” including one person “wearing a shirt in support of transgender people.”

First off, our shirts aren’t about transgender women participating in sports. Our shirts are pro-woman, pro-biology, pro-fair competition. We don’t want men in women’s sports. Layshia Clarendon was the WNBA’s first player to identify as both transgender and non-binary. She retired from the league in 2024. And to be very clear, no one on the pro save women’s sports side of the aisle had or has any issue with her in the league. She’s female!

But back to the claims that security also ordered people to cover up “pro-trans” shirts — I don’t believe it for a second. Produce the person. Show the confrontation. If someone wearing a trans-advocacy shirt had been forced to cover it, they would already be on every platform screaming about censorship. CNN would eat that shit up. They would track that person down and feature him or her or they on every possible show under the sun.

Instead, a woman in a “Trans kids belong in sports” shirt was shown on the ESPN broadcast — multiple times. The in-stadium Jumbotron featured a “Protect Trans Kids” shirt repeatedly.

I don’t buy it for one second that that message was censored. And on the off chance it was and that imaginary person was also told to put on the Emory Healthcare shirt that Kasey and Annie were told to put on, that was wrong too. Wear whatever shirt you want!

Even if a second “balanced” cover-up occurred (and I remain unconvinced, obviously), it was only done so that the league could later claim they treated both sides the same while they targeted the women who dared to say sex is real.

Produce the fan who was told to hide her trans shirt. Until then, this is just another attempt to smear the women who showed up for girls’ sports.

The shirts stay on. Women don’t need permission to stand up for women. At a women’s basketball game!

See you in New York at the Liberty vs Fever game on Saturday.