'Sophie Night' to strike Minnesota as WNBA firmly becomes next frontier for 'Save Women's Sports' movement
· Fox News
Jennifer Sey saw what happened during the Indiana Fever’s game against the Seattle Storm and insisted the "Save Women’s Sports" movement needed to follow Sophie Cunningham to Minnesota on Sunday.
"When I watched the response in Seattle, frankly, the rally was really quite positive," Sey told Fox News Digital. "My understanding from folks I know that were there, our side, those supporting Sophie and standing up for women’s sports, outnumbered their side 10 to one, which is new. That’s a real shift."
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"As soon as I saw that, I felt like, ‘Well, I want to support her, too, at upcoming games.’ So I figured I’ll go to Minnesota," she added.
SOPHIE CUNNINGHAM RALLY ROCKS WNBA GAME AS 'SAVE WOMEN'S SPORTS' ACTIVISTS FACE COUNTERPROTEST
Sey, the former U.S. national gymnastics champion and founder of XX-XY Athletics, is organizing a "Sophie Night" rally outside Target Center before the Fever play the Minnesota Lynx on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET.
It will mark the third consecutive Fever road game accompanied by a rally supporting Cunningham and her recent statements about protecting women’s sports. The movement began in Seattle on Tuesday, continued in Portland on Friday and will now move into another deep-blue Democrat stronghold.
Sey expects the attention generated by the previous rallies — and the controversy that erupted inside the Seattle arena — to draw a larger and potentially more contentious crowd in Minneapolis.
"I think there will be more people there than there were in Seattle, just because now there’s been so much attention put on Seattle," Sey said. "And I think there could be more contentiousness."
"But our intent is to be, of course, very peaceful and nice," she added. "We just want to honor Sophie and thank her, because it really is meaningful in this fight."
Cunningham became a flashpoint in the national debate after saying she wanted to protect girls in locker rooms and athletic competitions from having to go against "biological men." She later called her position "common sense" and refused to back away from it.
The Minnesota rally will also bring the movement face-to-face with one of the WNBA’s most prominent supporters of transgender inclusion.
Lynx head coach and president of basketball operations Cheryl Reeve recently called political efforts to restrict transgender athletes "sort of sickening" and argued lawmakers were trying to manufacture a problem.
"Exclusion is never the answer, separate isn’t equal, and trans lives matter," Reeve said.
Sey called Reeve’s argument "ludicrous."
"There would be no WNBA if there was no such thing as women’s sports," Sey said. "A third-rate NBA player that never sees time on the court would slay in the WNBA, and we all know it."
"This isn’t about trans. This is about males in women’s sports," she added. "Women’s sports are for women."
Sey acknowledged that the WNBA’s decision not to punish Cunningham represented progress, but she argued the league has not publicly supported the Fever guard.
"I have two minds on this because I wanna recognize the progress that's been made, um, which isn't to say enough has been made. Sophie Cunningham made a clear statement. She didn't back down. She hasn't been suspended by her team or from the league. I believe just a year ago she would've been. So that is progress. But she also hasn't been supported." Sey said.
The controversy intensified during Tuesday’s game at Climate Pledge Arena.
The WNBA later fined Keaton an undisclosed amount and barred her from Seattle’s next five home games. Storm majority owner Ginny Gilder issued a public apology, but the family of one of the girls told Fox News Digital that Keaton had not personally contacted them.
The incident became a rallying point for prominent women in the movement, including Independent Council on Women’s Sports (ICONS) co-founder Kim Jones, and ICONS ambassadors women’s fencer Stephanie Turner, former Utah State and Weber State volleyball player Kaylie Ray and University of Arkansas soccer and track athlete Ainsley Erzen.
Jones said the league’s response showed that female athletes may now be able to discuss the issue without immediately facing punishment.
"I think that the WNBA has made clear that they are going to let their athletes speak their mind when it comes to the protection of women and girls in sports," Jones told Fox News Digital. "I’m glad to see that they are not censoring or punishing their athletes for speaking up."
But Jones called that response "the bare minimum."
"I do wish that the WNBA were being more proactive about recognizing the importance of protecting the female category themselves," she said. "I wish that they would sit down at the table, listen to female athletes who have been going through this, give some credence to the IOC and recognize that these policies that have allowed male athletes entrance into the women’s sports category have been a really horrible thing for women to have to face."
Turner became a national figure in 2025 when she took a knee and refused to fence a transgender opponent at a USA Fencing-sanctioned tournament. Officials disqualified Turner and placed her on 12 months of probation, though USA Fencing later changed its eligibility rules to prohibit biological males from the women’s category.
"I’m honestly kind of surprised that Sophie hasn’t faced much backlash from the WNBA, because historically it’s been pretty hard for any woman to come forward about this sort of opinion without getting massive blowback from her organization," Turner said.
Turner said the treatment of the teenagers in Seattle disturbed her even more.
"I’m not a little upset. I’m very upset with what happened to the girls who were cheering Sophie on," she said. "I think there could’ve been maybe a little bit more protection for them offered by the WNBA."
Turner said she has faced similar hostility while wearing XX-XY merchandise in Philadelphia. She alleged people have followed and filmed her in public, including one person who trailed her through multiple train cars on SEPTA.
"Stalking is probably the biggest issue that I face," Turner said. "I have no idea where these videos are going. I don’t have social media, so it’s not like I ever really see them."
Ray said she found the WNBA’s decision to discipline Keaton encouraging but questioned how the confrontation could have occurred in the first place.
"I think it was encouraging to see the response and that the co-owner is being held accountable," Ray said. "But I do think it’s really bizarre that at a women’s professional sporting event, girls that get to go sit courtside, wear their XX-XY gear and are cheering on a particular athlete would face any type of backlash."
"The fact that comments were made at all is outrageous," she added. "Especially seeing how young those girls are, it always truly baffles me that adults — and in this case an owner, someone in a position of power — feel the need or feel obligated to tear down young women."
Ray previously competed against former San Jose State transgender volleyball player Blaire Fleming and later joined a lawsuit challenging the Mountain West Conference’s handling of the controversy.
She said she and her family were doxxed after a recent viral exchange with Arizona Democrat state Sen. Catherine Miranda during a legislative hearing.
"Myself and my family got doxxed online and had people threatening to come to our house," Ray said. "A couple accounts online posted my house, my location, told my whole story, said that I was involved in the lawsuit, and some of the comments on the posts were inciting violence."
Ray said her family filed a police report, but detectives told them they could not act without a specific threat or incident.
"There was nothing they could do about it until something happens or if there are specific actionable threats," she said. "They were like, ‘Let us know if you see anything at your house or if someone breaks in.’"
Erzen, a dual-sport Arkansas athlete and plaintiff in a lawsuit challenging the NCAA’s previous transgender eligibility policies, said Keaton’s punishment felt significant only because female athletes had received so little institutional support in the past.
"Realistically, this only feels like a win because we’ve been getting below the bare minimum for so long, and we finally are getting the bare minimum," Erzen said.
"There’s no reason teenage girls should go anywhere in a shirt that says XX-XY — no controversial messaging, just there are men and there are women and they are different — and be treated that way," she added.
Erzen said she has also received death threats and personal attacks over her advocacy.
"My personal favorite when I post or go out in public in a shirt is people telling me that I look like I’m trans or I look like a man," Erzen said. "The hypocrisy is insane."
"But I hope this is a step in the right direction, and I hope it encourages more girls to speak out," she added. "Even though they shouldn’t have had to go through that, the issue is gaining more and more traction because of it."
The movement’s expanding presence could continue beyond Minnesota. Participants in the roundtable expressed interest in future rallies in Phoenix, Philadelphia, Indianapolis and Chicago, where the Fever are scheduled to play next Saturday.
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For now, Sey is preparing to bring the campaign inside Target Center. She purchased two seats close to the court and secured four additional tickets to give away to rally attendees.
"We are going to come with love, as Sophie would say," Sey said. "There will be no screaming or name-calling on our part. We’re there to support Sophie and come together because we all agree that women’s sports should be protected."
"We welcome dissent," she added. "But do so peacefully, and leave us alone."