It has been more than a month since Sophie Cunningham’s stance on transgender athletes in women’s sports ignited a debate that has left the WNBA deeply polarized. Supporters and critics of her position have continued to make their voices heard at games, turning what began with one player’s comments into a much broader conversation around the league. But two incidents involving Cunningham supporters have prompted the Alliance Defending Freedom to put the league on notice over how fans expressing their views are being treated.

The warning comes after two teenage Cunningham supporters wearing XX-XY Athletics shirts were involved in an alleged confrontation with Seattle Storm minority owner Celeste Keaton in July. And then weeks later, a mother and her teenage daughter were asked by WNBA security to cover their XX-XY shirts or leave during the Fever’s August 16 game against the Atlanta Dream.

“We’re putting the @WNBA on notice: your one-way censorship of fans isn’t just foolish. It could be illegal. Fans who know what a woman is should be welcome in the stands,” ADF president Kristen Waggoner wrote in a post on X.

“Although the WNBA acknowledged that the Atlanta incident ‘should not have happened,’ ADF believes more needs to be done after similar concerns emerged twice within weeks.

“I think it’s absolutely a first step for the WNBA to say at least that they don’t stand behind what happened in those incidents,” legal counsel for the Center for Conscience Initiatives at ADF, Suzanne Beecher, said to Fox News. “But the fact that after the first time they, you know, they said that they didn’t stand behind the co-owner’s berating of the teenage girls, but then again a few weeks later a similar incident occurred shows that more needs to be done.”

She added that free-speech protections at the federal, state, and local level could come into play here, and mentioning the potential use of public money, she said: “there could even be First Amendment arguments.”

ADF is the same legal organization that recently helped defend two state laws protecting women’s sports in separate Supreme Court cases, State of West Virginia v. B.P.J. and Little v. Hecox, both of which resulted in major victories for the states in June 2026.

That said, Cathy Engelbert has addressed the growing controversy surrounding the league. During a conversation at the American Airlines Center before the Fever faced the Dallas Wings on August 20, the commissioner said the league has increasingly become a target for people looking to push their own agendas.

“We’re being the center of political football for people who have never watched the WNBA, never have written about the WNBA or reported on the WNBA,” Engelbert said, while also calling for the vitriol surrounding the league’s players to stop.

The league is yet to publicly respond to the warning from ADF, but the organization has made clear that it is willing to work with the league on how such situations are handled in the future.

“ADF is open to assisting the league with legal education and policies that would support free expression at games and fairness in women’s sports. It is time to take action against this blatant censorship of the truth,” the organization said in its statement.

With the playoffs right around the corner, this latest development has added another layer to a controversy that has already pushed the WNBA into an uncomfortable spotlight. And while the league continues discussions around transgender eligibility and has said it wants to approach the issue thoughtfully, the treatment of fans expressing support for Sophie Cunningham has now become a separate point of contention.