Rival demonstrations erupted outside Saturday’s New York Liberty game at Barclays Center, as supporters of Indiana Fever star Sophie Cunningham’s comments about transgender players in women’s sports faced off against opponents before the two teams faced off on the court.
Similar to other recent rallies that have followed the basketball star across the country, around 60 die-hard Cunningham fans gathered as more than 100 people in support of trans rights massed nearby — and were separated by the NYPD and police barricades outside the Brooklyn arena.
Liberty supporter Dr Elizabeth Fedak, 35, organized the rally in support of Cunningham, who last month caused a firestorm when she told ESPN that she wanted to “protect young girls in a locker room, or young girls in sport who shouldn’t have to go against biological men.”
She was ripped by some for being “transphobic,” but gained many followers who thought she was only speaking common sense, including Fedak, who said she was “happy with what Sophie did because I’m a women’s rights advocate.”
“It’s very important to me that we be able to speak the truth about what a woman is and what our bodies are. I’m here standing for basic material reality, women’s sports were created for women, and it needs to stay that way to ensure fairness,” she added.
Fedak, who has a doctorate in math, recalled the case of Payton McNabb where “a male player threw a volleyball at her, at her back,” highlighting that “the risk of injury for women is much higher when they’re competing against men.”
“So it is a safety issue as well,” she slammed.
Julie Potter, 48, of Bucks County, PA., was furious after her paid scoreboard message was pulled less than 24 hours before Saturday night’s game that she bought 25 tickets for.
Potter’s scoreboard message wrote “Thank you, Jennifer Sey XX XY Athletics will save the day,” — a reference to the former US gymnast whose company actively campaigns to ban transgender women from competing in female sports categories.
“I went back and forth, they issued me a refund, and said what I was saying, ‘wasn’t in the spirit of positivity.’”
Potter believes “that little girls deserve to play sports without having the fear of a man or a little boy in their locker room,” and said she has played sports her entire life and “never [had] a man near me.”
“I want these little girls to have the same childhood. I will fight tooth and nail for it,” she said.
Meanwhile, New York District 8 congressional candidate Vance Bostic told The Post he came out to the arena where Cunningham was playing because it’s important to “support trans people and trans athletes.”
“We need to change the way we view trans people in sports and make it more universal for everyone to play in sports,” the 39-year-old candidate said, adding that he wants “to replace Hakeem Jefferies.”
When asked by The Post how that ideal would translate to reality, Bostic said “all sports should be mixed with gender…100%”
“That’s how we end the gender segregation that we have in our system, and we deal with the trans debate at the same time,” Bostic added, who claims on his website he is “not a politician.”
But when questioned about the possibility of injuries with smaller women being injured by larger men, Bostic admitted “it’s a safety issue.”
“I think sports has a modern way with using science to determine how players compete against each other,” he said.
“So I think leaning into that more and getting people who size up physically, that’s how you go about it versus being like, well, we should have men on men’s team, women on women’s team.”
“We can start modernizing the way players play against each other, using modern ways of science to determine their body makeup.”
As fans entered the Brooklyn arena, pro-trans supporters behind a barricade at the entrance yelled out a barrage of chants including, “ban bigots, not trans women,” “trans people belong in all sports,” and “Liberty fans stand with trans kids.”
After the ESPN interview ran, Cunningham didn’t back down, despite the blowback..
“I got a lot of negative feedback about me hating trans. And I’m like, ‘I never once said that,’” Cunningham said.
Earlier this month, former NBA players Enes Kanter Freedom and Royce White declared themselves eligible for the 2027 WNBA Draft as the league is yet to fully outline its policies regarding trans athletes’ eligibility.
“After careful consideration and reviewing the current eligibility guidelines, I’m officially declaring myself a @WNBA prospect,” Freedom wrote on X, amassing nearly 50 million views.
“If simply declaring who you are is all that’s required, then I meet every single requirement necessary to compete in the WNBA.”
Since Cunningham’s divisive ESPN interview, demonstrators have staged several rallies primarily at arenas before Indiana Fever games — both for and against transgender inclusion.
In a statement to ESPN on Aug. 12, the WNBA announced that a task force of team presidents and general managers met to discuss trans athletes but did not make a decision surrounding eligibility rules.
“There are no immediate eligibility matters affecting the WNBA and we strongly denounce the bad-faith efforts to use these topics to demean or marginalize others,” the league said.
In her first comments since the Aug. 12 statement, WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert criticized people who she said are trying to “sow divisiveness” in the league amid the debate over trans athletes, ESPN reported.
When asked about the building rally outside the arena before Saturday night’s tip off, Cunningham said “it’s happened every game and so I’ve already kind of stated how I feel about all that.”
“I’m focused on New York tonight,” the Fever player said.
“And it’s cool that people are using their freedom of speech and doing what they want to do but that’s them, and I’m in my two feet. I’m where I’m at, and so I’m just focused on New York.”
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