The Indiana Fever visited the Atlanta Dream Sunday evening. It was a thrilling game between two of the WNBAs most exciting teams, but what happened to a mother and daughter in the stands, just feet away from the court, was the biggest story of the night.
Georgia locals, Kasey Thomason, and her daughter, Annie, bought tickets just two rows back from courtside. They each wore an XX-XY Athletics T-shirt to support Sophie Cunningham and the ongoing fight to keep womens sports and spaces female. Kasey wore an XX-XY shirt with the letters in stars and stripes, while Annie wore a Riley Gaines collaborative piece with “XX” on the front and “For the Girls” on the back. They were able to wear their shirts with no hassle or issue, until overtime when a security guard approached them.
WNBA FAN SUBREDDIT BANS POSTERS FROM USING SOPHIE CUNNINGHAM’S NAME AFTER DEFENSE OF WOMEN’S SPORTS
About halfway through the five minute overtime period, a security guard tried to get Kasey and Annie to leave their seats to talk to him. They were unsure why they were specifically being targeted at that moment, so Kasey asked him, “[Is it] about our shirts?”
Then things took an insane turn.
The security guard told them that a fan(s) were offended by their shirts, so they had the choice to wear the provided Atlanta Dream “Wellness & Health Night” shirts, or they would be escorted out of the building. To this, Kasey responded by saying, “Biology and science is offensive?”, before reluctantly agreeing to put the shirts on so they didnt miss the last two minutes of overtime, where the Indiana Fever eventually secured a 95-91 victory.
With about two and a half minutes left in overtime, the Thomasons are seen on the ESPN broadcast with the tan Dream shirts in hand. They can be seen talking to fans around them, who they said loved their shirts and showed support for them and Cunningham throughout the game. At about 1:30 remaining, both Kasey and Annie had put the shirts on.
According to the State Farm Arena prohibited items list, “Clothing, garments or signs displaying explicit language, profanity or derogatory characterization towards any person(s)” is strictly prohibited. The NBA Fan Code of Conduct states, “Obscene or indecent messages on signs or clothing will not be permitted.”
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If State Farm Arena and the Atlanta Dream were really trying to claim the shirts worn by the Thomasons were a “derogatory characterization” or “indecent messages” on clothing, that would be an arbitrary way of enforcing their rules, at best. Discrimination, at the worst. But the fact remains, the security guard didnt claim any of these things from the prohibited items list or the Fan Code of Conduct. He just said the shirts were “offensive.”
Kasey told Fox News Digital/OutKick that she assumes a woman sitting courtside in a “Protect Trans Rights” t-shirt, who was featured on the video board earlier in the game, made a fuss with security, who then sided with that fan, which led to the threat of ejection from the game.
While speaking to a conservative YouTuber, Adam Francisco, Annie said, “She was the one that told on us.” They told me that the same woman mockingly said, “I like your shirt” once they were in the tan Atlanta Dream “Wellness Night” shirts.
The Thomasons are unsure if security held that woman to the same standard with h
