WNBA says fans should have been free to wear shirts with messaging about transgender issue

At least three fans were asked by WNBA security personnel to cover shirts that had messages about transgender women participating in women's sports during Sunday's game at Atlanta between the Dream and the Indiana Fever.

The league said in a statement Monday that the fans should have been free to wear the shirts.

“The WNBA is aware of interactions at (Sunday) night’s game in Atlanta in which fans were asked by league security to cover their shirts,” the statement said. “This should not have happened.”

Two people wore shirts with a message that women's and girls' sports should be restricted to those assigned female at birth, while one person was wearing a shirt in support of transgender people.

The WNBA has been the subject of recent debates on whether transgender women — people assigned male at birth who transition to align with their gender identity — should be allowed to participate in the league. There has never been such a player in the WNBA. Although the league's collective bargaining agreement says the WNBA is restricted to women, it contains no more specific language about gender identity or sex assigned at birth.

There have been players in the league who were assigned female at birth and later came out as transgender or nonbinary.

Sophie Cunningham of the Fever said in an ESPN profile published last month that she was opposed to transgender girls and women competing in girls' and women's sports. Her stance led to small rallies and protests outside Fever games at Seattle and Portland, and Storm minority owner Celeste Keaton was given a five-game ban for confronting two fans who had signs supporting Cunningham.

The league has informed the security workers from the Atlanta game that they were wrong to ask that the messages be covered up.

The Dream said the team was not involved in the security personnel's actions.

“The Atlanta Dream believes in creating a safe and inclusive environment for everyone. Unfortunately, at last night’s game, WNBA security took actions that fell short of that standard,” the Dream said in a statement “At no point was Dream personnel involved in the decisions made by WNBA security.”

See AP’s full WNBA coverage here