Sophie Cunningham's comments defending women's sports have triggered a wave of protests outside WNBA arenas, with two more demonstrations planned in the coming days.
The Indiana Fever star's remarks about protecting young girls from transgender athletes have divided opinion and led to a series of anti-trans rallies outside WNBA venues. Two further protests are planned, starting Friday night outside the Portland Fire's Moda Center, where the Fever are due to play at 10pm EST.
On Sunday, Indiana travels to Minnesota to face the Lynx, where another demonstration has been slated ahead of the 1pm EST tip-off.
The rallies follow an incident in Seattle days earlier, when a calm protest outside the arena was followed by a courtside confrontation involving a Storm co-owner, who was suspended for five games by the team.
Two young girls brought signs supporting Cunningham and the "protect women's sports" movement. Seattle Storm co-owner Celeste Keaton confronted them and allegedly told them they were "f***ing insane."
The Storm has since apologized, but protests against Keaton's side of the argument have continued to grow.
Portland and Minneapolis Rallies
Fox News reported that Friday's Portland rally is being led by Washington-based activist Amy Sousa, who also helped organize Tuesday's Seattle protest outside Climate Pledge Arena.
Sousa said the group had initially planned to keep the demonstration low key, but changed course after what happened to the two girls in Seattle.
We were just going to do something quiet with just a couple of us, and seeing what happened to those girls, we just thought, "We can't be quiet."
The Portland rally is scheduled for 5:30pm local time, an hour and a half before Cunningham and her teammates take the court.
Sunday's protest in Minneapolis is being led by Jennifer Sey, founder of XX-XY Athletics and a former Team USA gymnastics champion. Sey has previously written that the WNBA had a plot to undermine Caitlin Clark.
Cunningham Speaks Out
The controversy began when Cunningham told ESPN that women should not have to compete against biological men.
The two girls at the center of the Seattle incident wore t-shirts made by XX-XY. Cunningham responded on X, calling Keaton "truly embarrassing."
I truly believe there is a safe space and love for EVERYBODY. Biological girls, biological boys, trans women, and trans men. Everyone is welcome at my table! You can disagree and still be kind. Bravo to those girls for standing up for what they believe. You'll be hearing from me soon. Yay for gifts. Truly embarrassing of the co-owner. Unfortunately shows the type of leader she is.
