Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham’s stance against “biological men” competing in the WNBA has become a story that refuses to die down.
The polarizing discourse manifested in an unfriendly exchange at The Sports Bra, a sports bar in Portland, Oregon, that only shows women’s sports.
An X user named Amy Sousa posted a video of her and another bar patron being kicked out of the bar by a server.
“There are people that are in here that are uncomfortable with those shirts. So I am asking y’all to leave,” the server could be heard saying in the video.
The patrons were wearing XX-XY Athletics shirts, which is a women’s activist sportswear brand that positions itself around the belief that sports participation should be restricted on the basis of biological sex. The name references XX and XY chromosomes, referring to biological females having two X chromosomes and biological males having an X and a Y chromosome.
The server said they could “call the authorities” if she needed to for the patrons to leave, but that she didn’t want to do so.
There was more back and forth between both sides before one patron said, “There is nothing wrong with these shirts! What is wrong with these shirts?”
“I have had complaints by customers already. I’ve already explained to you,” the server replied.
The video was posted on Sunday and has since gone viral, amassing over 5.6 million views on X alone.
On Monday, The Sports Bra’s Instagram account made a post that included the caption, “On Sunday, Sept. 6, a group entered wearing apparel with messages advocating for the exclusion of trans women from sports. When our team respectfully gave the group the choice to cover the anti-trans messaging or leave, they chose to leave.
“We stand firmly committed to inclusion and belonging for everyone who walks through our doors. Thank you for standing with us,” the caption added.
