Zak X, formerly known as Zach Allen Strumpf, is a right-wing influencer for Turning Point USA. In December, he was charged with fifth-degree assault after photos surfaced showing him punching protesters with tactical gloves at the Whipple Federal Building in Fort Snelling.
What brought him back to Minneapolis on Sunday? Zak is jumping on the Sophie Cunningham bandwagon, joining recently converted fans like Riley Gaines and local conservative columnist Dustin Grage after the Indiana Fever guard flexed her conservative street cred in an ESPN profile.
“I got a lot of negative feedback about me hating trans. And I’m like, ‘I never once said that,’” Cunningham told ESPN’s Hallie Grossman in July. “I want to protect young girls in a locker room, or young girls in sport who shouldn’t have to go against biological men.”
As a result of these remarks, trans women are at the center of a WNBA culture war—never mind that there are no trans women currently playing in the league, nor are there any high-level trans prospects. As Defector’s Lauren Theisen wrote earlier this week, conservatives see women’s sports as a “key wedge issue that they can use to their advantage.”
Where there’s culture war brewing, you’ll find bottom-feeders like Zak X, which is why he was at Target Center on August 2 as the Fever faced the Minnesota Lynx. But you’ll also find counterprotesters like Mageda Nader, a Florida transplant who moved to Minneapolis last year and a true WNBA fan.
“My favorite player has and always will be Brittney Griner. I idolized her when she was at Baylor,” Nader told me Sunday, as a shouting match broke out between Zak X’s cameraman and longshot DFL primary candidate for Minnesota governor Tom Evenstad.“She broke some records for dunking, and I still have a newspaper clipping of her. I get emotional because I love this league.”
Zak X also got emotional before the Lynx played the Fever, but for different reasons.
“Take your happy ass to the YMCA, Tom!” Zak yelled at Minnesota gubernatorial candidate Tom Evenstad—himself no stranger to run-ins with the law.
Evenstad may be allied with Zak X, Republican U.S. Senate Candidate Michele Tafoya, and Riley Gaines on whether transgender athletes should participate in women’s sports. But they found themselves on opposite ends of a shouting match on Sunday, one example of the in-fighting that made it look as if the anti-trans movement was self-destructing outside the Target Center.
Among the exchanges I witnessed Sunday:
“Step away sir,” said Zak’s cameraman, ever the gentleman. “I need space.”
“Talking about my mother. You better watch your fucking mouth,” Evenstad retorted.
A real meeting of the minds. Moments later, Zak X’s cameraman shouted “Police!” and walked towards an empty MPD cruiser. The man providing media coverage for the anti-trans movement did the stereotypical alpha move and flagged down one cop inside Target Center.
“They’re not responding to people getting in my face,” the Turning Point hype man told a Minneapolis cop. “Can I spray if he does that again?”
“I would not spray him,” the cop helpfully recommended.
“If he encroaches on my personal space and threatens me,” Turning Point’s impromptu legal intern continued. “He broke three laws.”
“What laws did he break?” asked the cop.
“Uh, he encroached on my personal space,” said the hype man.
“That’s not breaking the law.”
Also in attendance Sunday: Amy Sousa, who has crisscrossed the country following the Fever not because she’s a die-hard basketball fan but because she’s a die-hard Sophie Cunningham fan who’s organized several anti-trans protests outside of WNBA games. A poster of Cunningham is taped to the window outside Target Center. Hours later, security will remove it for violating arena policies.
But for every Sousa, there’s a Derek Torstenson. The prominent Twin Cities activist pulled out his fan that revealed the word “CUNT.” (It’s the same fan he used to post behind Savanah Hernandez before a fight broke out at the Whipple last April.)
Conservative sports commentators (yes, that’s a thing) and Outkick founder Clay Travis went on Fox News to offer $10 million to the winner of a game between WNBA defending champs Las Vegas Ace and a boy’s high school state championship team.
Do Clay Travis, Riley Gaines, Dustin Grage, Michele Tafoya, and Amy Sousa really care about protecting women’s sports? I can’t recall these conservative figureheads expressing concern about WNBA players traveling overseas during the off-season to make up for their meager WNBA salaries. Griner was detained at a Moscow airport after vape cartridges that contained cannabis oil were found in her luggage in February 2022, and for 10 months she endured freezing temperatures inside a harsh Russian prison 300 miles from Moscow. Nothing from the right wing then, either.
On Sunday, Minnesota Republican U.S. Senate candidate and former NFL sideline reporter Michele Tafoya noticed a crowd of counter-protesters.
“I saw the other side of the protest, the counter protesters, and they were loud and they had bullhorns and they were shouting. And I said, ‘Boy, where's our group?’” Tafoya told right-wing think tank the Center of the American Experiment.
Gaines, Tafoya, and other protesters wearing XX-XY Athletics apparel (a brand that campaigns on keeping trans women out of women's sports) tried staging a photo op. At every turn, Torstenson showed up with his megaphone. One organizer gestured for Torstenson and other trans activists to move to make way.
“No, not leaving, bitch,” Torstenson said.”Wanna get arrested, bitch.”
Torstenson steps in front of Tafoya with a sign reading PROTECT THE DOLLS, a rallying slogan used to express solidarity and safety for transgender women.
“They were loud, and they had two megaphones, and they were vicious, and they had some profanities written on their signage, and it was disgusting,” Tafoya said.
Counter protesters either didn't know that Tafoya was among the protesters or just didn't care. They did notice Gaines, a 12-time NCAA All-American swimmer for the Kentucky Wildcats.
After she tied for fifth place with transgender swimmer Lia Thomas in the 2022 NCAA 200-yard freestyle behind four cisgender women, Gaines turned her grievances against NCAA transgender-participation rules into a high-paying gig as vice-chair of the America First Athletes Coalition.
Trump's Education Department agreed to unfreeze $175 million in federal funding after the University of Pennsylvania barred transgender athletes from women's sports and removed Lia Thomas’s athletic records.
Torstenson approached Gaines from behind as her group neared the Target Center. “Protect trans women,” he yelled.
Video footage shows a protester and counter-protester engaged in a tug-of-war over a T-shirt. One counter protester said the shirt was waved in her face. Grage called it assault and bragged that it was posted on Twitter.
“I've been a fan of so many of these women for so long, and to see the fan base react like this, and for people to try to hijack the fan base as well, it's so, so concerning,” said Nader.
Women’s sports aren’t a joke, but sometimes they are funny; Cunningham scored just three points against the Minnesota Lynx, as the team led by rookie Olivia Miles beat the Indiana Fever 108-100.
