Jennifer Sey’s role in the debate around transgender athletes and the WNBA has seen Golden State Valkyries fans hurl insults at her during Game 1 of the Finals.
A lot of unexpected characters got involved when the debate around transgender athletes potentially playing in the WNBA exploded earlier in the season. Jennifer Sey, the former U.S. national gymnastics champion, was one of the people vehemently against the idea of trans athletes being allowed to play.
Sey backed Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham’s comments. She also accused the WNBA of failing to take a firm stance, using her XX-XY Athletics brand’s platform to pressure the league to change its eligibility rules. While many agreed with her, some did not. And she recently ran into those people during the Finals.
Valkyries fans in the stands told Jennifer Sey she is ‘disgusting’ along with some even worse insults
The issue of transgender athletes is an incredibly polarising one. People on both sides of the issue have extremely strong and passionate opinions about it, and they are not afraid to let everyone hear about them. Sey was forced to confront some of her opposition in person at the Chase Center.
In a video of her walking through a crowd of Valkyries fans, several were seen heckling her. One fan she focused on also had some choice insults for her, and the interaction has gone viral on social media.
One fan was seen telling Sey she is disgusting, while adding some more profane insults to make her point. Another fan was seen saying, “I’m sorry that you don’t understand…” It is easy to assume that the take was likely about trans people and athletes.
There were some fans trying to get the controversial figure kicked out of the arena as well. All things considered, tempers were clearly running high. While the interactions are ugly, the WNBA will count it as a blessing that nothing more serious occurred. The league could have had some big problems otherwise.
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