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 stated in an official note 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. While one person was wearing a shirt in backing of transgender people.

The WNBA has been the subject of recent debates on whether transgender women — residents assigned male at birth who transition to align with their gender identity — should be allowed to participate in the league, “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. 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 concerning gender identity or sex assigned at birth.