Sophie Cunningham rally draws dozens outside Portland's Moda Center in second stop of women's sports advocacy series

Women Are Real's "With Love Is Truth" series reached Portland on Friday, bringing dozens of supporters of Indiana Fever forward Sophie Cunningham to Moda Center before the Fever faced the Portland Fire, one of the WNBA's newest expansion franchises. The rally, the second in the series, drew women's rights advocates, a former Olympian, and an attorney roughly 90 minutes before tip-off. Inside the arena, Cunningham was greeted with sustained boos from a crowd that displayed trans and pride flags throughout the game.

Organizers and speakers outside Moda Center

Amy E. Sousa, a women's rights advocate also known as Known Heretic, addressed supporters gathered outside the arena. She told the crowd the group stood in solidarity with teenage girls who had been verbally confronted at the series' first stop in Seattle, with Cunningham, and with female athletes broadly. Sousa was joined by former Olympian Inga Thompson and attorney Kara Dansky, a board member of Democrats for an Informed Approach to Gender and former president of Women's Declaration International USA. Independent journalist Brandi Kruse, who co-organized the series alongside Sousa and Women Are Real, was also present.

A counterprotest of about a dozen trans rights supporters gathered nearby. Sousa was interrupted mid-remarks by one of the counterprotesters.

The Seattle incident and its aftermath

Women Are Real launched "With Love Is Truth" on July 28, 2026, outside Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle before the Fever played the Storm. Two teenage girls wearing XX-XY Athletics shirts and holding a sign of support for Cunningham drew a verbal confrontation from Celeste Keaton, a co-owner of the Seattle Storm. Keaton was subsequently fined and suspended. Marco Esquivel, identified as a local store director for Nordstrom, was also reported to have verbally confronted the girls and their families at the same event. Nordstrom has not issued a public statement.

Inside the game

Cunningham told reporters before the game that she intended to play basketball and remain herself, without hiding or dimming who she is because others might disagree.

The Portland crowd booed her each time she entered the game and each time she touched the ball. The loudest crowd reaction before the second quarter came during a video board segment called the "companion cam," which featured same-sex couples and fans waving trans flags. The next rally in the series is scheduled for Sunday in Minnesota, where the Fever will play the Lynx.