Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R-Texas) attended Thursday night’s Dallas Wings-Indiana Fever game at American Airlines Center with his daughter Mattie. Both wore matching XX-XY shirts in support of keeping biological males out of women’s sports.
“I was grateful to attend the game with my daughter Mattie in support of keeping men out of women’s sports,” Paxton said in a statement provided to The Dallas Express.
A photograph obtained by DX showed Paxton and Mattie seated inside the arena in the matching shirts.
As previously reported Texas Values organized a pregame rally with Moms for Liberty, Moms for America and the Independent Council on Women’s Sports, or ICONS, to support Fever guard Sophie Cunningham’s defense of sex-based competition.
Support moves inside arena
Additional photos showed multiple supporters wearing XX-XY shirts and holding signs that read “Protect Women’s Sports,” “Thank You, Sophie” and “We Love Sophie.”
Dallas is lit right now!!
Entire sections of fans at the Fever-Wings game are rocking XX-XY shirts and “Protect Women’s Sports” signs.
The WNBA can keep pretending this will blow over.
It won’t.
Respect to every fan in that building standing up for women and biological… pic.twitter.com/wcRm24v8DC
— Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman) August 21, 2026
After the game, Cunningham signed a “Thank You, Sophie” poster for Texas college athlete and women’s sports advocate Brooke Slusser. Cunningham wrote, “Keep being you, we are behind you,” video from Texas Values showed.
Sophie Cunningham signs our poster with “Keep being you, we are behind you” for Save Women’s Sports Leader & College Athlete from Texas @BrookeSlusser after the game!
Thank you to @sophaller for signing posters and taking pictures with everyone after the game. Thank you to… pic.twitter.com/c2SIB2o6JD
— Texas Values (text txvalues to 797979 for update) (@txvalues) August 21, 2026
The Wings defeated the Fever 91-85 before an announced crowd of 20,297, Mavs Moneyball reported.
Paxton has pressed the issue
Paxton’s appearance aligned with actions his office has taken on women’s sports. He sued the NCAA in December 2024, alleging the organization violated the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act by marketing competitions as women’s events while permitting biological males to participate. The lawsuit seeks to block that participation in Texas events or require the NCAA to market those competitions differently.
Paxton and Dallas ISD also entered an agreed order in April 2025 to ensure district employees complied with Texas law governing girls’ sports.
The Women’s National Basketball Players Association has opposed what it called hate and the demonization of “transgender” people but did not propose a specific eligibility standard. The WNBA has announced no eligibility change, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
