This story originally appeared on Them.
Go anti-woke, go broke. A planned anti-trans rally outside of a WNBA game in Seattle, of all places, appears to have been a major flop.
The “rally” took place outside the Climate Pledge Arena ahead of the Seattle Storm v. Indiana Fever game. Even calling it a rally is generous though — per a video posted to Instagram by local news outlet The Burner, attendance was sparse. According to ESPN, the crowd consisted of “a few dozen,” who were there to both voice support for Fever guard Sophie Cunningham and for legislation that would bar trans girls from participating in school sports in Washington state.
Cunningham caused controversy with anti-trans comments in a recent ESPN profile. She claimed that while she “got a lot of negative feedback about me hating trans,” she “never once said that.” In the same breath, though, she repeated anti-trans talking points, saying that she wants “to protect young girls in a locker room, or young girls in sport who shouldn't have to go against biological men,” referring to trans women. Subsequently, the groups Women Are Real and Known Heretic, and the right-wing Seattle influencer Brandi Kruse organized Tuesday night’s rally in support of Cunningham.
While Cunningham may have had some supporters outside the arena, ESPN reports that the player was booed when she checked into Tuesday’s game, and when she went for her free throws. After the game, reporters asked to speak with both Cunningham and her teammate Caitlin Clark, but they were not made available to speak with press. Though Fever head coach Stephanie White was asked directly about the rally, a public relations representative said, “Neither our organization nor Sophie had any knowledge of this demonstration and no contact with its organizers. Our only goal as a team, whether at home or away, is to win basketball games and make Fever fans for life, and we are united in that mission.”
The WNBA and the Seattle Storm have yet to publicly comment on Cunningham’s comments, though Storm center Stefanie Dolson, who has been out as LGBTQ+ since 2016, made somewhat of a statement of her own. On Tuesday night, the Storm posted photos to Instagram showing Dolson wearing a “TRANS RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS” tank top, captioned with “🗣️🗣️🗣️.”
Get the best of what’s queer. Sign up for Them’s newsletters.
