Security guard asks Indiana Fever fans to cover XX-XY shirts during Atlanta Dream game
A mother and her daughter were told by arena security to change their XX-XY Athletics T-shirts or leave the venue during overtime of an Atlanta Dream-Indiana Fever WNBA game.
During the overtime period of the Atlanta Dream’s home game against the Indiana Fever, arena security approached two spectators seated two rows from courtside and asked them to cover the T-shirts they were wearing. The shirts, sold by the XX-XY Athletics brand, displayed the letters “XX” and “XY” in support of players Sophie Cunningham and Riley Gaines and the broader discussion of women’s sports.
The guard told the mother, Kasey Thomason, and her daughter, Annie, that other fans had complained and that they could either wear the arena-provided “Wellness & Health Night” shirts or be escorted out. The pair complied and put on the alternate shirts for the final two minutes of overtime, after which the Fever won 95-91.
State Farm Arena’s prohibited-items policy bars clothing with explicit language, profanity or derogatory content, and the NBA Fan Code of Conduct similarly bans obscene messages. The security guard did not cite a specific rule violation, describing the shirts only as “offensive.”
The incident was reported to Fox News Digital, and the Atlanta Dream was contacted for comment but had not responded at the time of publication. The venue’s policy and the guard’s actions have prompted discussion about the consistency of rule enforcement at sporting events.