Women’s sports advocates gathered peacefully outside Target Center on Sunday before the Indiana Fever played the Minnesota Lynx, but the scene turned confrontational when counterprotesters moved in on supporters of Sophie Cunningham. Video from outside the arena showed megaphones, slurs and hands reaching for XX-XY Athletics shirts as the dispute over Cunningham’s comments on women’s sports spilled from the court to the sidewalk.
The rally was the third organized in support of Cunningham since she said young female athletes “shouldn’t have to go against biological men.” Supporters wore XX-XY Athletics shirts and held signs reading “Pro-Women, Not Anti-Trans” and “Trust the Science,” while the people opposing them shouted through megaphones and tried to rip shirts away.
One man held a fan displaying a slur above the women’s heads, and one activist became physical with a supporter before security personnel stepped in. The number of people at the scene was small enough to fit around the arena entrance, but the exchange was loud enough to draw attention and fit a pattern that has followed Fever games in other cities.
That pattern already had a paper trail. During the first rally in Seattle, two teenage girls later attended the game wearing XX-XY shirts and carrying a sign that thanked Cunningham for speaking up for girls. Storm minority owner Celeste Keaton then approached them courtside, cursed at them and called them “f—ing insane,” a confrontation that ended with the WNBA fining the Storm and suspending Keaton from attending the team’s next five home games.
Supporters rallied again on Friday outside Portland’s Moda Center, where trans activists interrupted speakers, cursed at reporters and confronted attendees. Inside that arena, Cunningham was booed whenever she entered the game or touched the ball. Before that game, she said, “I’m here to play basketball, but I’m also here to be me,” and added that she would not “shadow that or hide or, you know, dim my light just because maybe people don’t agree with that.”
Sunday’s scene in Minnesota shows the argument is no longer confined to what happens once the ball is tipped. It is now following Cunningham, her supporters and her critics from city to city, and the next question is whether the league can keep these demonstrations from becoming a regular feature outside every Fever game.
