XX-XY Athletics founder Jennifer Sey says she and a group of friends were verbally abused by spectators at Game 1 of the WNBA Finals in San Francisco, drawing attention to how arenas handle disputes involving politically charged messages.

“The entire first half of the game was fun and pleasant. No one cared that we were there. We were talking to our seat neighbors and enjoying,” Sey wrote on X. ” Then in the 2nd half someone decided we should be kicked out. For a t-shirt. I didn’t capture the half of it. There were so many more people screaming in our faces and saying we should kill ourselves.”

The Golden State Valkyries’ 68-64 win over the Atlanta Dream at Chase Center came amid a reported confrontation involving fans wearing XX-XY gear. In footage she posted, a person who appears to be security staff says they had spoken with several groups, including people wearing the gear, according to USA Today.

The staffer says the complaint involved the group antagonizing others by pointing their shirts in their direction. OutKick reported that the staffer also said the shirts did not violate the Fan Code of Conduct and asked the group not to point them toward other spectators. The group was allowed to return to its seats.

Jennifer Sey’s Account Sparks Debate Over Fan Conduct

Sey later clarified that security did not eject her group. She said staff spoke to them after another attendee complained, and also spoke to that attendee over alleged harassment.

The group was allowed to watch the rest of the game and was never asked to cover its shirts, Sey said. She called the conversation “dumb” but said the outcome was right, adding that perhaps the WNBA had learned that “censoring doesn’t win them any points.”

Commentator Jon Root offered a stronger characterization, writing that four women’s sports activists were told to kill themselves, cursed at and flipped off by Valkyries spectators. He also claimed some people tried to get the group ejected. Another account, @babybeginner, called the incident “unhinged,” argued that those involved should be removed, and named Sey and Tish Hyman in its post. These are claims made by the posters; the available footage does not independently establish every alleged remark or who made it.

Sey also told USA Today that she was accustomed to such hostility because of her views, saying people “always hope I die.” Her account has since become part of a wider argument over how spectators express disagreement at sporting events and where arena staff should draw the line.

Sey founded XX-XY Athletics after working as a gymnast and an executive at Levi Strauss. The brand opposes the inclusion of transgender athletes in women’s sports and became part of the national debate earlier this season, including during a protest outside a New York Liberty game in August. USA Today has reported that neither the WNBA nor the Valkyries commented on the latest incident. There has never been a transgender woman on a WNBA roster, according to published reporting.

The video and the competing accounts show security responding to complaints from more than one side, while allowing Sey’s group to return to its seats. What remains disputed is the extent of the alleged verbal abuse and how individual spectators behaved. The incident has renewed questions about how arenas can address complaints without treating a politically charged message itself as grounds for removing someone.