Sophie Cunningham supporters open up on encounter with security, pro-trans fans in latest WNBA culture clash

A mistaken decision by a WNBA security representative thrust the entire league back into the eye of the storm of a national culture war Sunday.

But it began with subtle tension between two groups of fans with opposing views.

Kasey Thomason and her 17-year-old daughter Annie attended Sunday’s game between the Atlanta Dream and Indiana Fever to support Fever guard Sophie Cunningham and her stance on women’s sports.

They said they remained in their seats and had no confrontations during most of the game.

By the fourth quarter, however, they noticed several Atlanta supporters wearing pro-transgender apparel looking in their direction.

MOM AND DAUGHTER TOLD TO COVER UP XX-XY T-SHIRTS, SAY THEY WERE THREATENED WITH EJECTION AT FEVER-DREAM GAME "Maybe like the fourth quarter, I could tell," one of the Thomasons recalled.

"They were like two rows in front of us and maybe, you know, five or 10 people down to the right.

And so it was clear that they had a problem, that they recognized what it was to have a problem with it." Kasey and Annie said the opposing fans were rooting for the Atlanta Dream, and were distraught when Angel Reese missed the game-winning layup in the final seconds of the fourth quarter.

Then in overtime, the Thomasons said they saw one of them speaking with arena personnel and pointing toward them.

"Because we saw someone talking to one of the people about our shirts and, like, pointing at us," Annie said.

With roughly two minutes remaining in overtime, a man approached Kasey and Annie and attempted to move them away from their seats for a private conversation.

The women say the man was not dressed like a typical arena security guard, and was wearing a tan suit.

"Whenever the security guard came up to us, I wasn’t going to get out of my seat to go talk to him by ourselves, because I wanted people to hear what he said," Annie recalled.

"I was like, ‘Is this about our shirts?’ Because we had seen people pointing at our shirts.