‘They Have a Problem With Conservative Politics’ — Riley Gaines Calls Out WNBA ‘Agenda’ After Issue With Security While Supporting Sophie Cunningham

The WNBA, as a league, has been seeing immense growth, and it’s a given that where there is growth, the spotlight follows. Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham is learning just that after grabbing headlines over her stance in the trans-athlete debate.

Riley Gaines was firmly in Cunningham’s camp in this debate, but her latest visit to a WNBA arena didn’t go the way she expected, and she says the league’s own security made sure of it.

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WNBA Under Scrutiny as Riley Gaines Throws Major Allegations

The former NCAA swimmer turned women’s sports advocate traveled to Minnesota on Sunday to show support for Cunningham. She brought a sign to the arena that read, “Sophie, Thank You, A Girl Mom.” But going by Gaines’ account, WNBA officials told her to put the sign down.

The moment was first documented by Jennifer Sey, founder of an apparel brand, who organized the pregame rally in Cunningham’s support. Sey posted a photo of the sign online, writing that Gaines was “just told she had to put this sign down. Because it has a name on it.”

Gaines responded to the post herself, pointing out what she saw as a double standard inside the arena that night. She said there were no fewer than a thousand signs throughout the building, most of them supporting transgender inclusion, and that she was the only person asked by WNBA officials to lower hers.

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“It shows you very clearly that the league has an agenda that they’re trying to purport that is not representative of reality at all,” she said.

She maintained the sign broke no rules, describing it as containing “nothing derogatory, nothing negative, nothing political.”

She added to that, saying, “The only people the Lynx or whoever was in charge of the camera put on the jumbotron were people who were draped in their pride flags, in their trans flags. Some of them were in those shirts that say ‘Protect Trans Kids’ that have a literal knife on it.”