A mother and daughter attending Sunday’s WNBA game between the Indiana Fever and Atlanta Dream said arena security told them to cover T-shirts expressing support for women’s sports or leave the venue.
Kasey Thomason and her daughter, Annie Thomason, attended the game at State Farm Arena in Atlanta wearing shirts associated with XX-XY Athletics, a clothing company that promotes keeping women’s athletic competition limited to biological females. One of the shirts featured the phrase “For the Girls.”
The pair had seats just a few rows from the court and told conservative social media personality Adam Francisco afterward that they had paid roughly $1,000 per ticket.
The game itself was close, with the Fever eventually defeating the Dream 95-91 in overtime. But according to the Thomasons, the most memorable moment came late in the game when security approached them about their clothing.
BREAKING: A local Georgia mom & daughter were discriminated against at Sunday’s Fever vs Dream game for wearing @xx_xyathletics shirts
During OT, a security guard told them
they had to put provided Atlanta Dream shirts over their shirts or they would be escorted out…This is… pic.twitter.com/9VDzB31nmy
— Jon Root (@JonnyRoot_) August 17, 2026
Kasey said they were given promotional “Wellness Night” shirts and told they could either put them on over their own shirts or leave the arena.
“We were made to cover up our XX-XY shirts at this game,” she said after the game. “They gave us T-shirts during overtime and told us we had to leave or cover our shirts.”
Video from the ESPN broadcast reportedly showed the two women holding the replacement shirts during overtime before eventually putting them on.
The Thomasons also said another spectator was wearing a shirt supporting transgender rights. According to their account, that fan was also later required to cover her shirt. That detail suggests arena personnel may have been attempting to limit visible messaging about the broader debate over transgender participation in women’s sports rather than targeting only one side.
Still, the incident quickly became controversial because the Thomasons’ shirts did not appear to contain profanity, explicit language, or a direct personal attack.
State Farm Arena’s posted clothing rules prohibit garments or signs containing explicit language, profanity, or derogatory characterizations of individuals. The NBA Fan Code of Conduct also restricts obscene or indecent messages on clothing and signs.
The phrase “For the Girls” does not obviously fall into those categories, which has raised questions about what standard arena officials were applying when they instructed the fans to cover their shirts.
BREAKING – This mother and daughter paid $1,000 per ticket to attend today’s Indiana Fever vs. Atlanta Dream game at State Farm Arena, specifically to see Sophie Cunningham — a woman they respect and admire for taking a clear stance against biological men in women’s sports. They… pic.twitter.com/Mv6VyOigXw
— Adam Francisco (@adamfrancisco_) August 17, 2026
The episode also drew attention because of Sophie Cunningham, an Indiana Fever player who has publicly commented on the debate surrounding transgender participation in women’s sports. Cunningham has become a popular figure among fans who support sex-based categories in athletics.
The controversy comes at a time when the WNBA is receiving increased public attention, both because of its growing audience and because of broader cultural and political arguments surrounding women’s sports.
For the Thomasons, the issue was ultimately about being allowed to express a viewpoint while attending a professional basketball game.
They said other fans seated near them were supportive of their shirts and of Cunningham. The arena’s decision to intervene, however, turned what might otherwise have been a routine fan statement into a larger public controversy.
Whether the arena was enforcing a general policy against politically charged messages or applying a more specific standard remains unclear from the accounts that have emerged. What is clear is that the confrontation has added another layer to the continuing debate over speech, fan conduct and transgender participation in women’s athletics.
