The Indiana Fever and the Atlanta Dream gave fans a five-minute overtime thriller on Sunday. The Fever won 95-91. But by Monday, nobody was talking about the score.
The WNBA security ordered a mother and daughter to cover up their XX-XY Athletics T-shirts during overtime. They were told to comply or leave. On Monday, the league admitted its own security team got it wrong.
“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. “This should not have happened.”
BREAKING: A local Georgia mom & daughter were discriminated against at Sunday’s Fever vs Dream game for wearing @xx_xyathletics shirts
During OT, a security guard told them
they had to put provided Atlanta Dream shirts over their shirts or they would be escorted out…
This is… pic.twitter.com/9VDzB31nmy
— Jon Root (@JonnyRoot_) August 17, 2026
Kasey Thomason and her 17-year-old daughter, Annie, wore the shirts to back the Fever guard Sophie Cunningham. Cunningham has spoken out against biological males in women’s sports. The Thomasons sat courtside through three quarters without issue. Then a security guard approached during overtime.
Kasey asked directly if it was about the shirts. The security personnel said yes. A fan had complained, he told them, so they could put on Atlanta Dream ‘Wellness & Health Night’ shirts or leave State Farm Arena.
“Biology and science is offensive?” Kasey recalled asking. She put the shirt on anyway. She didn’t want to miss the final minutes of a one-possession game.
The Thomasons believe the complaint came from a nearby fan wearing a ‘Protect Trans Rights’ shirt. They said she later zipped her jacket over it. Security never cited State Farm Arena’s policy or the NBA’s Fan Code of Conduct. The guard reportedly just called the shirts offensive.
The Atlanta Dream distanced themselves from the call.
“At no point was Dream personnel involved in the decisions made by WNBA security,” the team said. The statement added that Sunday fell short of the standard the franchise wants to set.
This wasn’t an isolated flashpoint. Cunningham’s comments in an ESPN profile last month sparked the debate. She said she wants to keep transgender athletes out of women’s sports. Small rallies followed in Seattle, Portland and Minneapolis. A WNBA task force of team executives has already met once over the fallout.
Less than three weeks earlier, Seattle Storm minority owner Celeste Keaton confronted two teenagers wearing similar gear courtside. The league fined Keaton and suspended her from five home games. Sunday marked the second incident in under a month involving fans who back Cunningham’s stance.
The Thomasons weren’t alone on Sunday, either. Reporting from the Associated Press found at least three fans were asked to cover shirts referencing the debate, including one supporting transgender athletes. State Farm Arena’s broadcast even caught a ‘Protect Trans Kids’ shirt on the video board earlier in the game. Two weeks before that, Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve wore the same message courtside when the Fever visited.
Sophie Cunningham’s Shirt Controversy Keeps Following The WNBA
The league’s statement admits the mistake. It doesn’t answer the harder question. Security staff at a WNBA event decided, on their own, that a shirt referencing chromosomes crossed a line. Neither the arena’s rules nor the NBA’s conduct code actually draws that line. This wasn’t a policy failure. It was a judgment call gone wrong, made live, in front of a national broadcast audience.
Kasey Thomason kept it simple afterward.
“Common sense people, that’s all we’re asking for,” she told Fox. Annie wasn’t convinced the apology changes much. Asked if Monday’s statement means this won’t happen again, she said, “It’s 100 percent going to happen again until people actually do something about it.”
That’s the tension the WNBA now has to manage. Commissioner Cathy Engelbert already sent a memo urging team leaders to handle the topic with care. The players’ union has condemned the “hate, abuse, and demonization” surrounding it from every direction. An apology settles one night in Atlanta. Moreover, during the Commission Cup Final, the fans booed Engelbert, voicing their opinion about her management. It settles nothing about the next fan wearing a shirt someone else doesn’t like.
The Fever play in Toronto on Tuesday. The Dream travel to Las Vegas the same night. The real test isn’t Monday’s statement. It’s whether arena security handles the next courtside shirt any differently.
