As the WNBA finals tip off Saturday in San Francisco, a pro-LGBTQ+ sports fanbase is pushing a message of inclusion in the face of anti-trans attacks. At Wilka’s Sports Bar in lower Manhattan, a crowd of mostly LGBTQ+ fans was fired up during a playoff game between the New York Liberty and the Atlanta Dream, erupting in cheers when the Liberty’s Jonquel Jones blocked the Dream’s star forward Angel Reese and chest-bumped her.
“I love strong women, and I love supporting strong women,” said August, a trans organizer and Liberty fan who asked to go by their first name for privacy reasons. The bar, where a sign reading “trans people belong in sports” hangs behind the bar, exemplifies much of the WNBA fanbase, which, like the league itself, is heavily queer.
Anti-trans backlash targets the league
The anti-trans fury took off in July, when Sophie Cunningham, a backup guard for the Indiana Fever, said in an ESPN interview that she wanted to “protect young girls in a locker room, or young girls in sport who shouldn’t have to go against biological men”. Two former NBA players then declared their intention to enter the WNBA draft; the league said they were ineligible and condemned the behavior. Fox News aired more than 200 segments about the league in July, the majority about Cunningham’s comments.
Sportswear company XX-XY, which lobbies women’s sports leagues and state legislatures to exclude players based on assigned biological sex at birth, rode the media wave. In August, the company’s founder was photographed courtside in XX-XY merch with Cunningham and conservative anti-trans commentator Riley Gaines. XX-XY supporters have also gathered outside Fever games with signs calling to “protect girls sports”. XX-XY did not respond to the Guardian’s request for comment.
“We know that this is really about trying to rile up a base of folks who already show some sort of anti-gender ideology,” said Anna Castro, deputy communications director at the Transgender Law Center.
Players and fans resist
Players like the Chicago Sky’s Natasha Cloud and the Golden State Valkyries’ Gabby Williams have voiced support for the trans community; Williams said in May she would “welcome” a trans teammate anytime. Fans have held rallies, brought signs into games and defended sports bars from aggression.
Resistance has played out at arenas. When the Fever played the Seattle Storm in late July, Storm co-owner Celeste Keaton confronted two XX-XY-sponsored courtside attendees and, according to one, told them “Jesus loves everyone” and “stop pulling this shit”. The WNBA then fined and suspended Keaton. In September, management at the Sports Bra in Portland, Oregon, asked a group in XX-XY shirts to leave based on its policy of removing anyone wearing messaging targeting the community. When a different group of rightwing anti-trans protesters arrived two weeks later, neighborhood residents showed up in defense; the protesters eventually sprayed the counter-protesters with bear spray.
Anti-trans harassment has created an environment where some fans said they are scared to go to games alone, but feel safer knowing other queer and trans fans are organizing. Players are also struggling to feel protected against increased racism and harassment. Last season, men started a trend of throwing dildos on the court instigated by cryptocurrency investors; this season, it continued, with crypto influencers citing the conversation around trans women and the WNBA as motivation. Black players like the Fever’s Kelsey Mitchell report facing constant racist invective on social media. The WNBA did not return the Guardian’s request for comment.
“The trans youth and cis youth that get targeted with sports bans are trans girls of color, and particularly Black girls,” Castro said. “I think that it’s incredible that there have been fans that have said so vehemently: ‘This is not what we’re about.’”
Rallies and community
In August, Turning Point USA planned a pro-Cunningham rally outside the Fever game against the Liberty at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, so a group of organizers planned a rally of their own, distributing signs and T-shirts made by the Transgender Law Center that said “Trans people belong here”.
In the Bay Area over the last three months, parents of trans kids have organized poster distributions outside Valkyries games, handing out signs thanking Williams and coach Natalie Nakase for their outspoken support. According to Arne Johnson of Rainbow Families Action, the group’s efforts started with trans high school track star AB Hernandez, who was subjected to an intense harassment campaign. “They have a visceral understanding of what this is about,” he said. “That really crystallized what this WNBA fandom means: they were out there to protect each other.” The group has since set up Minnesota Lynx fans with signs and merch; for the Lynx’s game against the Fever in August, head coach Cheryl Reeve wore a “Trans Kids Belong” shirt.
On Saturday, organizers from California and Washington will host a rally outside the finals game between the Valkyries and the Dream in San Francisco and at women’s sports bars in both states, calling attention to a ballot measure in Washington barring transgender girls from K-12 girls’ sports teams. High schooler Jules, a trans athlete, said that during rallies outside the Valkyries game, passersby would ask her for signs and shirts, or to take a picture with her, wearing her cape of a trans flag. “If we got completely destroyed in a game, I would not care,” said Jules. “But if someone was being mean or being unsportsmanlike or something like that, it breaks the community of it.”
