Supporters of Indiana Fever forward Sophie Cunningham demonstrated outside Portland's Moda Center on Friday ahead of a Fever-Fire game, continuing a protest movement over transgender athletes in women's sports.
Videos posted on the 'Women Are Real' X page showed a small crowd outside the arena before tip-off. Several people held signs thanking Cunningham for speaking out against transgender athletes in women's sports, and one man was seen making an 'X' shape with his arms.
The Portland rally came days after the same organizers drew national attention in Seattle, where Storm co-owner Celeste Keaton told two young Cunningham supporters they were 'f***ing insane' for demonstrating courtside. The WNBA has since banned Keaton from the team's next five home games, and the Storm have apologized for the incident.
Organizer Amy Sousa defended the Portland demonstrators in a post, describing the group as middle aged women and girls carrying baskets of cookies, balloons, bubbles and welcome signs, and calling them a cheer squad. Sousa was later pictured wearing gear from XX-XY Athletics, a brand that promotes opposition to transgender athletes in women's sports.
A counter protest also took place before Friday's game, including a person in a frog costume holding a sign reading "Trans people just want to live," and another protester wearing a shirt reading "f*** transphobia."
Seattle confrontation
The Seattle incident began after two young girls brought signs to a game supporting Cunningham and the "protect women's sports" movement. Keaton confronted them and allegedly used the profanity toward them. Several other fans were also recorded berating the girls, with one man yelling "Garbage! Take the trash out!" while gesturing at them and at reporter Brandi Kruse, who organized the Seattle protest, according to a video shared by Fox News.
Voices in the video can be heard calling for security to remove the man, though the confrontation continued, according to Fox News. Kruse told Fox News Digital that some fans were relentlessly booing the girls, and that she turned around and told them the girls were just teenagers.
A separate video purportedly showed an angry Storm fan spitting toward a Fever fan after Indiana's 105-95 win, though that footage has not been corroborated.
More protests planned
Indiana travels to Minnesota on Sunday to face the Lynx, where another demonstration against transgender athletes in women's sports is planned ahead of the 1pm EST tip-off. That protest is being led by XX-XY Athletics founder and former Team USA gymnastics champion Jennifer Sey, who has written for the Daily Mail and has long been involved in the "save women's sports" movement.
The controversy grew after Cunningham told ESPN that women "shouldn't have to go against biological men." The two girls at the Seattle game wore t-shirts made by XX-XY. Cunningham responded to the Seattle incident on X, writing that she believes there is a safe space for everybody, including biological girls, biological boys, trans women and trans men, and that people can disagree while still being kind. She called the co-owner's conduct truly embarrassing and said it showed the type of leader she is, adding that the girls would be hearing from her soon.
