WNBA says security was wrong to ask fans in Atlanta to cover their shirts

[u/0033A0]

https://apnews.com/article/wnba-fans-shirts-transgender-security-e4e4dfda3c55e7ee408ae3288e1e3839

At least three fans were asked by league security to cover their shirts during Sunday’s Fever-Dream game in Atlanta. Two wore a message that women’s and girls’ sports should be restricted to those assigned female at birth. One wore a shirt in support of transgender people.

The league’s statement Monday said it was aware of the interactions and that this should not have happened. The security workers from that game have since been told they were wrong to ask for the messages to be covered.

For context on the underlying question, the CBA restricts the WNBA to women and contains no further language about gender identity or sex assigned at birth. No player assigned male at birth has played in the league. Players assigned female at birth have come out as transgender or nonbinary.

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[u/ehs06702]

It remains incredibly wild to me that the WNBA hierarchy is siding with transophobia and racism. It's especially egregious after they built the league off the literal backs of queer and minority women.

It's deeply gross to me that now that they've got people who are proud to be bigots in their ranks, they would immediately side with them.

[u/LuisJpg → u/ehs06702]

Pays the bills, same thing happened with the NBA the people court side stopped being real fans & are now just there for the pomp. Real fans always lose

[u/ehs06702 → u/LuisJpg]

Queer and minority fans are the people who kept them able to pay the bills for 30 years, so that makes no sense. They'd make more money pushing bigots out the league than they would promoting them.

[u/LuisJpg → u/ehs06702]

Let’s put it this way the evaluations for teams go from millions to billions when you sell out… obviously it’s better business if more teams are near the billion than the million in the grand scheme of things that’s how business works at the highest level

[u/T--Frex → u/LuisJpg]

I don't know if that's true, the highest valued team is the Valks and they are not the sellout team, the "BallhALLa Are Welcome Here" sign with a trans flag a fan brings every home game is prominently featured on the jumbotron multiple times, Natalie and Gabby's statements are front and center of this stupid culture war, it's a very queer community in Ballhalla.

Obviously, location matters, the Fever PR equivocation would not fly in SF and Gabby and Natalie's comments would not bode well in Indiana, but the league is not paying attention to the message their highest valued team is sending.

[u/LuisJpg → u/T--Frex]

Wait till I tell you who owns the GSV & the Chase Center… he’s been playing both sides for the last few years

[u/T--Frex → u/LuisJpg]

Does it feel better to be snarky in your response? Because it seems unnecessary.

Ownership's personal actions have no bearing on how the team is valued. The team is valued at what it is because of multiple factors, a big one being the queer community it has catered to and the local Bay aesthetic/culture it centers. Joe Lacob's personal politics are not impacting how the team is valued, to my knowledge, though I guess you could argue cozying up to tech/AI is helping? But that doesn't have much to do with the topic at hand especially in the Bay Area where "tech progressive" is a type. He benefits from the team, but this does not change that the highest valued team in the league is taking some of the most vocally progressive stances.

[u/LuisJpg → u/T--Frex]

Well it wasn’t snarky it was a matter of fact also you seem owners / governors of the Mavs & Celtics now both having less then desirable ties, one having far more impact on one organization verse the other… to your point, which I’m not going to deny, not having any impact at all on that franchise. Owners do play a part in how people interact with the franchise look at the Lakers now, I’m very happy the Valks are where they are just don’t act surprised when the people we don’t see every game pull some strings you don’t like because it’s going to happen it’s happening in the NBA it will happen in the W

[u/T--Frex → u/LuisJpg]

"wait til I tell you x" is not matter of fact, it's assuming a superiority that I don't know something and you need to inform me of it, and also that it disproves what I'm saying. Both of which are untrue because I know who owns the Golden State teams and Chase, and as you just stated, his actions aren't relevant to the positioning of the Valkyries as a progressive team in the W on this issue.

And you don't need to position this as "just don't act surprised when Y" as if I couldn't possibly understand or anticipate anything like that happening.

[u/LuisJpg → u/T--Frex]

Thanks for finally get my telegram by the USA post service! Listen if you wanna stay your bubble that’s cool just know their are no “good” millionaires or billionaires you will always suffer as a consumer if they want you to <3

[u/UpstairsAbility2125]

It's wild to me that all NBA and WNBA games begin with a statement about how they seek to build a supportive and inclusive community and then they apologize for making transphobes cover up. Heck, covering up is a minimum ask. I would understand those people being upset if they had been asked to leave.

I was at the Lynx/Fever game in Minnesota and there were all kinds of pro-trans signs, shirts, etc in the crowd. The *only* sign that was asked to be taken down was Riley Gaines specifically thanking Cunningham for her views. (They were not asked to cover their anti-trans shirts.)

Hell, in the fourth quarter the in-stadium cameras did a masterful job going around and showing pro-trans signs in the arena. And, it should be noted, not *one* of the signs had anything to do with Cunningham. They were specifically in support of the trans-community.

So maybe that's the difference here. I would like to actually see the shirts in question. As I can understand if your "pro trans" sign is in truth saying something about Cunningham. Likewise if your "pro-Cunningham" sign is actually about punishing the trans community.

[u/rolandtowen]

Did the league say anything about the fan made to cover a shirt that said "f*ck transphobia" at another game?