ADF: WNBA could face legal action over incidents targeting fans who support protecting girls’ sports

A Christian legal group is warning the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) that the sports organization may face legal liabilities if fans who support defending girls’ sports are not afforded adequate protections. In a letter dated Aug. 21, Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) advised WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert that two recent incidents at WNBA games could be potential grounds for legal action.

In one instance, a mother and her teenage daughter were directed by security personnel to cover up the”XX-XY” shirts that they wore to an Indiana Fever vs. Atlanta Dream game on Aug. 16. The shirts, which expressly support protecting girls’ sports and keeping biological males from competing as self-identified girls, were labeled “offensive” by security personnel.

While both the WNBA and the Atlanta Dream later admitted that security personnel should not have acted as they did, ADF’s Susan Beecher wrote, “But the damage was done. A special mother-daughter outing was ruined.”

In another incident, Seattle Storm co-owner Celeste Keaton verbally abused two teenage girls carrying signs supporting Fever guard Sophie Cunningham and her defense of girls’ sports while the two were attending a Storm-Fever game in Seattle. Keaton was later fined and was suspended from attending her team’s next five home games, but her profanity-laden tirade left the two teenagers in tears.

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“The message these incidents send is clear. Fans who know what it means to be a woman and who support fairness in women’s sports aren’t welcome at WNBA Games,” Beecher wrote in her letter. The ADF attorney noted that “the fans who expressed their support for fairness in women’s sports were respectfully conveying their views on important questions facing the WNBA. Their messages were not vulgar, profane, or disruptive. Yet their viewpoint was silenced.”

Beecher warned that the censorship of political viewpoints on biological sex and gender ideology could leave the WNBA vulnerable to legal action. Most of the stadiums and arenas where WNBA games are played are publicly owned entities and often built with public funding, putting the WNBA on the hook for potential First Amendment violations. Additionally, numerous state and local laws and provisions — like those in Seattle — prohibit discrimination on the basis of political viewpoints, opening the WNBA to further legal liabilities.

“ADF worries that the WNBA has betrayed its commitment to equality, women, and open dialogue, all because the league has embraced the lie of gender ideology. This may eventually expose the WNBA and its partners to legal liability as well,” Beecher cautioned.

The ADF attorney urged the WNBA to “educate” event staff and league partners on the potential legal liabilities and to adopt policies “allowing peaceful expression of diverse views at games.” ADF offered to help draft such policies for the WNBA.

Fans could potentially sue the WNBA and the franchise team if they were ejected from a game or otherwise censored for respectfully expressing their views on biological males competing in girls’ and women’s sports, a legal expert told Zeale News. In stadiums or arenas owned by public entities, such legal action could take the form of a First Amendment complaint in federal court. If the WNBA and home franchise unreasonably failed to keep fans expressing their views safe, there could also be state-law claims like negligence or premises liability, the legal expert added, depending on the laws of the state where the incident happened.

“If any organization should stand up for women’s sports — and lead with courage and clarity so others might follow — it should be the organization whose very name begins with Women,” Beecher’s letter concluded. “We encourage the league to live up to its name. Don’t silence fans who want to put women first.”

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