WNBA Says Security Wrongly Told Fans to Cover Transgender Shirts

The WNBA said Monday that fans at Sunday night's game between the Atlanta Dream and Indiana Fever should have been allowed to wear shirts bearing messages about transgender women in sports, after league security personnel ordered at least three fans to cover them up.

"The WNBA is aware of interactions at Sunday night's game in Atlanta in which fans were asked by league security to cover their shirts," the league said in a statement. "This should not have happened."

Two fans wore shirts stating that women's and girls' sports should be restricted to those assigned female at birth, while a third fan wore a shirt supporting transgender people. The league said it has informed the security workers involved that they were wrong to ask that the messages be covered.

The Dream said the team had no role in the incident. "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," the team said in a statement. "At no point was Dream personnel involved in the decisions made by WNBA security."

The episode comes amid broader debate within the league over transgender participation in women's sports. There has never been a transgender player in the WNBA, and while the league's collective bargaining agreement restricts play to women, it does not include specific language on gender identity or sex assigned at birth. Some current or former players who were assigned female at birth have since come out as transgender or nonbinary.

The issue gained fresh attention last month after Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham said in an ESPN profile that she opposes transgender girls and women competing in girls' and women's sports. Her comments prompted small rallies and protests outside Fever road games in Seattle and Portland. During one of those incidents, Seattle Storm minority owner Celeste Keaton received a five-game ban after confronting two fans who displayed signs supporting Cunningham.