A rally advocating for the protection of women's sports outside Chase Center in San Francisco became the scene of a confrontation when a large group of pro-transgender activists outnumbered and confronted the demonstrators. The incident occurred before the WNBA game between the Golden State Valkyries and the Minnesota Lynx.
Both teams' head coaches addressed the "Save Women's Sports" movement prior to the game. Minnesota Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve stated that while people are engaging with the movement, it is being used as a political talking point. "Trans kids belong," Reeve said. "And I think, as we're seeing sort of politically, in this country, they've found a talking point that people are buying into, and the only thing I ask is that people educate themselves further on these issues and what we're capable of doing together. And that something is not used just to marginalize a community."
Valkyries head coach Natalie Nakase commented on the rally, expressing concern about the prevalence of "hate speech" in sports. "In the world and just in sports right now, there's too much hate that's going on. Too much hate speech. I would highly suggest people lead with love. I love to lead with love," Nakase said.
Earlier this month, Reeve wore a "trans kids belong" shirt during a game against the Indiana Fever, whose player Sophie Cunningham has been a prominent figure in the "Save Women's Sports" movement. The rally outside Chase Center marked the first such demonstration at a WNBA game not featuring Cunningham.
According to attendees, a group of pro-transgender counterprotesters swarmed the rally, holding signs and chanting in support of transgender rights. Family rights attorney Erin Friday told Fox News Digital that the counterprotesters directed profanities at her and other women's sports advocates. "We were outside of this Chase Center holding signs peacefully. There were about eight to nine women, majority are lesbians, majority are Democrats or former Democrats, and the crowd came by us yelling profanities, telling us to get out," Friday said. She added that the discussions quickly devolved into name-calling and that demonstrators were "surrounded for a while with a group of women holding signs who were knocking into us, quite agitated."
Arianne Gieringer, vice president of LGB Alliance USA, reported that a counterprotester told her she did not belong in San Francisco, despite being a lifelong resident of the Bay Area. "One of the counter protesters kept shouting at us that we don't belong here because this is San Francisco," Gieringer said.
Security representatives informed the women's sports activists that their signs could not be brought into the arena, but confirmed that their XX-XY Athletics shirts were acceptable and "not offensive." This follows a recent incident where a fan and her daughter were reportedly asked to cover similar shirts at a WNBA game in Atlanta, an action the league and the Atlanta Dream later stated should not have occurred.
The Minnesota Lynx defeated the Golden State Valkyries 77-66. The rally was the third "Save Women's Sports" demonstration at a WNBA game in the past week, with additional rallies planned for upcoming games in Dallas and New York. If these proceed, it would bring the total number of such rallies at WNBA games to 10 within a 26-day period.