Story perspectives

WNBA Task Force Reviews Security After Shirt Threat Incident

8/19/2026

Summary

Security Demands Cover

WNBA security asked fans at the Atlanta Dream game on Monday to cover shirts.
Dream staff did not intervene, blamed security, and league said the incident should not have occurred.
Kasey Thomason and daughter Annie said a guard threatened ejection unless they covered XX-XY Athletics shirts with a Dream T-shirt.
The game moved to State Farm Arena to accommodate the crowd for contest against Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever.

Summary

WNBA Taskforce Reviews

The league’s collective bargaining agreement permits only “players who are women” but provides no definition of gender identity or guidance for transgender athletes.
Security at State Farm Arena, which bans explicit apparel, called “offensive” XX-XY Athletics shirts—designed by former gymnast Jennifer Sey—as violating the rule despite lacking prohibited language.
A WNBA-appointed task force of team executives convened after the incident to examine how the league should address transgender-related messaging and fan conduct.

History

Historical Context

Title IX, enacted June 23 1972 after Birch Bayh and Rep. Edith Green added sex to the Civil Rights Act, barred sex-based discrimination in any federally funded school program; women then comprised 42 % of college students. Subsequent rulings and the 2021 Department of Education interpretation extended protection to transgender students, a backdrop for the WNBA’s 2024 dispute over gender-affirming apparel.

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Security Demands Cover

WNBA security asked fans at the Atlanta Dream game on Monday to cover shirts.
Dream staff did not intervene, blamed security, and league said the incident should not have occurred.
Kasey Thomason and daughter Annie said a guard threatened ejection unless they covered XX-XY Athletics shirts with a Dream T-shirt.
The game moved to State Farm Arena to accommodate the crowd for contest against Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever.

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