WNBA fans across the league have proven time and time again, especially this season, to be some of the most intolerant, hateful people in pro sports. On Saturday, they earned that title once again by the way they treated women’s sports activists, including former gymnast Jennifer Sey, at Game 1 of the WNBA Finals at Chase Center in San Francisco. Sey and her friends were on the receiving end of some of the most vile harassment and verbal abuse you’ll ever see at a sporting event. All because they simply wore T-shirts that had XX-XY on the front.
Jennifer Sey, founder and CEO of XX-XY Athletics, who traveled across the country to Indiana Fever games with other female sports activists in support of Sophie Cunningham, said in a statement to OutKick discussing what lead her to attending the game: “I lived in San Francisco for thirty-ish years, so I thought it would be fun to come back and go to a game with some of my San Francisco friends.”
After explaining, “At first it was fine. We were very friendly with our seat mates,” Sey recounted how “it got more and more contentious as the game wore on.”
This is where things took a major turn.
“There was a woman across the aisle, who was pointing at us aggressively, giving us the finger. She was clearly filming us,” Sey said. “What she thought we were doing wrong was wearing a [XX-XY] shirt and I think she assumed she thought she could get us kicked out.”
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In a video posted by Sey, you can see the woman with a short haircut, glasses, wearing a mask on her chin, alerting security by pointing at Sey and her three friends. In posts online, that same fan could be seen holding a “Trans Lives Matter” sign as they were escorted from their seats to have a conversation with security, because another fan made a complaint about her and a female companion confronting Sey’s group.
Remember, the WNBA, it’s teams, and it’s arena’s security have been in hot water for the way they have treated women in XX-XY T-shirts since Cunningham’s comments. Earlier in the season, I shared a story about a mother and a daughter sitting court side who were threatened with ejection because they wore XX-XY T-shirts at an Atlanta Dream vs Indiana Fever game at State Farm Arena in Atlanta. They were both forced to put Atlanta Dream T-shirts over their shirts if they wanted to stay for the remainder of the game.
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Two teenage girls sitting court side in XX-XY T-shirts at a Seattle Storm vs Indiana Fever game in Seattle earlier this season were cussed out and verbally attacked by a Storm co-owner, who was eventually fined and suspended.
The treatment of women in these shirts has been unacceptable and targeted. That’s been abundantly clear.
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Sey went on to describe what happened as they were approached by security at their seats. Videos of the way Valkyries fans reacted to her group walking up the aisle, thinking they may be getting kicked out, is some of the most vile, nasty images and messages you’ll ever see and hear at a sporting event.
“We were told [by security] you have to come with us,” Sey said recounting the events.
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“As we were walking up the stairs, everybody was giving us the finger, telling us that they hoped that we’d die, and that we’re horrible, disgusting people,” Sey stated. “They were in our faces.”
In a video filmed and posted by Sey on X, shows just how much vitriol they received while heading up the stairs.
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One Valkyries fan told Sey, as they were ruthlessly booed by the fans in their section, to “eat my a– after you s—. You’re disgusting.” The woman also tried knocking Sey’s phone out of her hand, flipped her off, and the told her to “f—— kill yourself.”
Near the top of the stairs, dozens of Valkyries fans waved and said, “Bye!” One woman stood Sey, “Bye! I’m sorry you don’t understand.” Oh the irony.
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Right before approaching security, another Golden State fan said, “Go f— yourself.”
Again, this is all because these women wore T-shirts that affirmed biological reality. That’s it. That’s all it took for people to cuss at, berate, ruthlessly attack, and boo these women.
“The guy (security guard) seemed kind of confounded,” Sey said speaking to her interaction with security before they were ultimately released back to their seats.
“He told us, ‘You’re instigating or we’re being told you’re instigating because of the shirts.”
After a brief conversation where the security guard said, “There complaint is you’re antagonizing them with your shirts pointing in their direction,” and he affirmed that the shirts were not in violation of the Fan Code of Conduct. He asked Sey’s group to not hold them up or point the shirts in those fans, or any fan’s direction, he escorted them back to their seats.
Sey also told OutKick that security offered them an escort out of the building because the Valkyries fans became so hostile.
Sey shared an additional video on X of an angle from one of her friend’s perspectives, showcasing just how awful the verbal attacks were that they received. One male Valkyries fan got in her face telling her, “You’re a horrible human being.”
Another female fan held a pro-trans sign upside down near them, which stated, “We are stronger when we play together.” A similar take from Valkyries star Gabby Williams, who stated earlier this season, following the comments from Sophie Cunningham about protecting women’s sports from the inclusion of male athletes: “I would welcome a trans athlete on my team or against my team any time. I don’t think it’s a problem in the world. It’s just another way to attack trans people.”
In a video shared late Saturday night, showing Sey and her friends kindly escorted out of the arena after the conclusion of the game for their safety, a friend perfectly encapsulated the insanity of what just happened: “It’s unbelievable. All we’re doing is wearing shirts, supporting girls.”
The WNBA has always claimed that their games are an “inclusive” and “tolerant” environment that does not tolerate “hate”, yet all they’ve done is either insinuate, or allowed the rhetoric to determine that people like Jennifer Sey and her friends who want the league and women’s sports as a whole to remain female, are the problem. They’ve allowed these legitimate WNBA fans to be mistreated, simply because they affirm biological reality and want the league to as well. The WNBA has allowed their fans to mistreat and attack other fans, who are on the opposite end of the trans debate than them, without repercussion. They’ve allowed, and in my opinion, fostered this toxic, intolerant, hateful environment.
Former ESPN host, Elle Duncan, who is now the face of Netflix’s sports coverage, and occasionally covers WNBA games on USA Network, wants the public to believe conversations and female sports activists are the problem with WNBA fandom and why the league has become “toxic as Hell.” It’s nonsense.
These people don’t actually want tolerance. They want people like Jennifer Sey, and you reading this, to be forced into conformity. They think their feelings trump biological facts. That’s the problem.
