Conservative activist groups are set to rally outside the United Center on Saturday, just hours before the Chicago Sky host the Indiana Fever, marking the fourth time such a demonstration has followed the Fever on the road this season. The Chicago Young Republicans and XX-XY Athletics plan to gather on Madison Street near the arena atrium starting at 1 p.m., ahead of a 2:30 p.m. tipoff between the two teams.
The rally is meant to show support for Fever guard Sophie Cunningham, whose comments in a July 21 ESPN interview that female athletes “shouldn't have to go against biological men” have followed her Indiana squad from city to city, according to the Chicago Tribune. Cunningham has said her remarks were meant to protect female locker rooms and sports rather than target transgender people, and the White House press secretary publicly endorsed her stance two days later, as reported by The Washington Post. XX-XY Athletics, one of the rally's organizers, was founded in March 2024 by former Levi Strauss executive and gymnast Jennifer Sey to sell sportswear built around biological-sex definitions in women's sports.
The Tribune's reporting shows the United Center has hosted rallies before — including a 2023 protest by striking concessions workers on the same stretch of sidewalk — but Saturday's gathering will be the fourth stop on what has become a running road-trip storyline tied to the Fever's schedule. Similar demonstrations have already unfolded outside arenas in Seattle and Minneapolis, each drawing counter-protesters and, in at least one case, physical confrontations.
A Pattern Building Since Seattle
The rallies trace back to fallout that has followed Cunningham's Fever team on the road. At a July 29 Seattle Storm game, a courtside confrontation escalated when Storm minority owner Celeste Keaton verbally confronted two 16-year-old fans wearing XX-XY Athletics shirts at Climate Pledge Arena. The league fined Keaton and suspended her for five home games over the incident, per the Tribune's prior reporting, while the Storm separately issued a statement emphasizing its commitment to fan respect and inclusion.
Days later, tensions flared again outside Minneapolis' Target Center during an August 2 Fever-Lynx game, where trans activists and XX-XY Athletics supporters clashed physically outside the arena while Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve wore a “Trans Kids Belong” shirt on the bench, according to Fox News. Cunningham herself stood on the court during the first half of that game, per an Associated Press photo caption cited in the Tribune's reporting. The Minneapolis demonstration marked the third consecutive road-game rally organized around Indiana's away schedule, setting the stage for Saturday's fourth in Chicago.
United Center Rules and an Unsettled League Response
Inside the arena, the ground rules are more defined than outside it. United Center security may confiscate signs that are not event-related or that contain indecent, derogatory or otherwise inappropriate comments or images, and the venue bars signage with poles, sticks or other hard apparatuses along with signs bearing profane or offensive language. Fans may bring homemade signs and banners measuring up to 8.5 by 11 inches, though the arena has no stated policy specifically addressing flags, which are typically allowed during Chicago Bulls games.
The Chicago Sky has not issued a public determination on what will be considered derogatory ahead of Saturday's game and says it will not alter stadium policies in anticipation of potential protests inside or outside the arena. The team said it is committed to providing a welcoming space and expects everyone to follow the arena's safety, security, media and fan code of conduct policies. That code, part of the WNBA's “No Space For Hate” initiative updated in May 2025, explicitly prohibits abusive, sexist, racist, homophobic or transphobic remarks, symbols and apparel inside league venues, with violators subject to ejection without refund.
The WNBA itself has not issued league-wide guidelines for expected team or player conduct regarding the rallies, leaving individual franchises to make their own calls on how to respond. That gap has become more pointed as the players union has weighed in directly: on Thursday, the Women's National Basketball Players Association issued a statement emphasizing its commitment to “justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion” and declaring that WNBA players “will not be used as political pawns,” according to The Comeback. It was the union's first formal response after weeks of attention surrounding Cunningham's comments. Unlike some other sports governing bodies, the WNBA maintains no explicit ban against transgender women, and the players union previously released a March 2022 statement opposing state-level restrictions on transgender youth in sports.
A Legal Backdrop and a Record-Setting Venue
The rallies are also unfolding against a shifting legal landscape. In July, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld state statutes in Idaho and West Virginia restricting public school female sports to biological females, a ruling that allows states to enforce sex-based participation criteria in scholastic athletics, per CBC News.
Saturday's game will be just the Sky's second at the United Center this season and only the third in franchise history, following the team's June 2025 debut there that drew a franchise-record 19,496 fans against the very same Fever squad. The 20,917-seat arena also hosted the WNBA All-Star Game two weeks ago, pulling in 19,783 spectators to set an all-time attendance record for the league's midseason showcase. Whether Saturday's rally draws anywhere near those crowds remains to be seen, but the pattern from Seattle to Minneapolis suggests Chicago won't be a quiet stop on Indiana's road trip.
