Is this 'transphobic' shirt the next 'MAGA' hat? An activewear manufacturer responds to liberal critics

Jennifer Sey, the founder of an activewear company defending women’s sports, reacted to a recent critical piece from a liberal news outlet by stating the word "transphobic" means "nothing" to her.

Amid the ongoing controversy about biological males participating in women’s sports, San Francisco Chronicle columnist and cultural critic Soleil Ho wrote an opinion piece lamenting the rise of so-called "anti-trans activewear." The article, headlined, "Is this the next MAGA hat? Transphobic apparel is the new hotness," cited T-shirts reading "Save Girls’ Sports" and "It’s Common Sense. XX ≠ XY."

Sey, a former US Gymnastics Champion and women's athlete advocate who founded XX-XY Athletics, was slammed in the article for owning "a company whose sole purpose is to pump out anti-trans activewear and fund right-wing influencers."

Sey originally responded to Ho’s piece by writing an X post joking, "This article wins for the dumbest thing I've read this year so far." She told Fox News Digital about her work with XX-XY Athletics, touting it as "the only brand standing up for the protection of women's sports and spaces."

Former elite gymnast Jennifer Sey spoke about her choice to found an activewear brand defending women's sports.

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"I was inspired to start XX-XY Athletics because I looked around at all of the athletic brands out there claiming to champion female athletes and ignoring this issue that is right in front of us, which is more and more males entering women's sports," Sey said. "Not only ignoring it, but I would argue, in many instances, standing on the wrong side of the issue."

She also cited how, as a longtime San Francisco resident, she emerged as a major critic of the area’s local policies starting in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, sparking controversy that has not endeared her to local liberal media.

"The San Francisco Chronicle likes to troll me a bit. They don't like that I'm so critical of the city and their institutions and their governance," she recalled. "That said, I'll take it, you know, if XX-XY athletics is the ‘new hotness,’ that sounds like it's pretty on-trend to me."

Fox News Digital reached out to Ho for comment.

She went on to address the recent article criticizing her directly.

"The article overall is … I don't have another word for it other than ‘stupid’ and ‘filled with lies,’" she said. "The writer makes the assertion that vast numbers of studies show that sex is a spectrum. That's just false. There are no studies. She cites no studies. She links to no studies. There is no evidence that sex is a spectrum. Sex is binary. I don't know how a newspaper can not even fact check. I know it's an op-ed, but you know, basic facts should not be violated, I think, in an actual newspaper."

Jennifer Sey with brand ambassadors Paula Scanlan (L) and Riley Gaines (R)

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Even so, she said, she will gladly accept the publicity to boost her business, "and the fact is, it's good for truth."

Sey also locked horns with the writer’s ideology specifically.

"It's an ideological perspective, it's activism, it's not biological reality," Sey said, deriding the idea that "’a person is what they say they are.’"

"That's just not true," Sey replied. "There is such a thing as biological reality."

She was amused at the comparison to the distinct red "MAGA hats" of Trump supporters.

"Well, MAGA hats are pretty popular," she said. "I think people wear them to make a statement about their values and where they stand on the political issues of the day. You know, I believe XX-XY Athletics is an assertion of just basic truth, biological truth, and I think it's becoming the uniform of common sense and more and more people don't care that they're called ‘transphobes’ for wearing the shirt or ‘bigots’ for wearing the shirt, because they know that that name-calling is the purview of those with no argument."

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Her roots in calling out the invasion of women’s spaces go deep. 

"I was the first former elite gymnast to speak out on the abuses in the sport, the emotional, physical, and sexual abuse in the sport," she recalled. "So I care deeply about protecting female athletes, and I think this an important issue within that same category. Female athletes deserve to train safely, and they deserve privacy, they deserve fairness, and I can't believe that anyone who calls themselves a feminist or a defender of women's rights would not see the issue here is not grounded in biological reality, and I won't further a lie."