Howdy friends! The 2026 college football season is just four days away! And the following story has nothing to do with that whatsoever.
Sorry! But I hope you won’t be disappointed with what I have for you instead.
In May 2025, Jennifer Sey’s business sued Colorado in federal court. It claimed that the state’s new anti-discrimination law harmed its ability to freely conduct business.
It could “no longer speak the truth in pursuit of its mission.”
You may have missed the lawsuit. But you’ve surely heard of the company this past month: XX-XY Athletics, the apparel brand that is helping foment outrage against the WNBA.
In an interview in July, Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham spoke out against trans women competing in women’s sports, calling it “common sense” and necessary to “protect young girls in the locker room.”
A week after her comments, the Fever played in Seattle. Two teenage girls sat courtside in XX-XY Athletics gear, drawing the ire of one of the Storm’s minority owners.
The brand swiftly became a signifier of support for Cunningham and a flashpoint in the debate over trans athletes.
When the Fever traveled to Atlanta, a security guard reportedly told a mother and daughter to cover up their XX-XY shirts.
After the game against the Lynx, Sey snapped a courtside picture with Cunningham. She’s run 11 stories on her Substack about it. The brand’s social media is firing away.
It’s been the most omnipresent story in sports for a month straight.
As a small business owner myself now, I can’t hate on Sey using a wave of attention to market her wares. And given the lawsuit, you can’t accuse her of being opportunistic. She’s been pushing this issue for years.
But if you, like me, have a nagging suspicion that so many of our culture-war dramas are ginned-up spectacles powered by the grievances of the obscenely wealthy, well… I’m sorry to disappoint you.
I can’t say that is what’s happening here.
But I can walk you through an interesting paper trail I found!
Sey is a former competitive gymnast who won the U.S. national championships in 1986. In 2008, she penned a tell-all memoir about the sport, later producing a documentary on the Larry Nassar abuse scandal.
In 2022, Sey reentered the discourse when she left a high-level role at Levi Strauss, saying the company forced her out over her tweets about the pandemic.
Two years later, she announced the launch of XX-XY Athletics, aligning her dual passions of sports and speaking hard truths.
It’s a clothing line with a message.
“Allowing trans identified male athletes to compete in women’s sports is based on a lie—that males are not stronger and faster than females. If we carry this lie through to its conclusion, there will be no sex-based categories in sports.”
Its leggings feature a wide waistband that doesn’t dig in, “which means no muffin top."
Starting any business takes a lot of work. I imagine an apparel line is no different.
A few months before launching, in December 2023, Sey discussed the effort.
“I’ve got a team. I’ve got a name for the brand. I’ve got a logo and product and factories and office space.”
That strikes me as requiring some upfront capital.
Money that Sey, in her own words, didn’t appear to have. The very next day, she published a post asking for donations to help finish her documentary film about COVID school closures.
Two weeks earlier, Sey wrote about the project’s GiveSendGo. She said she already paid for a “significant portion” of it, but needed supporters to step up.
In May 2021, an LLC named Committee of Five registered in Colorado. At the same time, it sent a trademark application for an apparel line under its name. That application was eventually abandoned.
In July 2023, four months before Sey teased the launch, Committee of Five submitted two new trademark applications: XX Athletics and XX/XY Athletics.
In September, a third wordmark was submitted: XX-XY Athletics.
In November, Committee of Five reincorporated in Delaware. Then, in Colorado, it changed its registered agent to Sey.
The following September, in 2024, Committee of Five filed to do business in Colorado under the trade name XX-XY Athletics.
When the business sued Colorado in May 2025, the lawsuit was brought by Committee of Five, doing business as XX-XY Athletics.
So who is Committee of Five? The LLC was first registered by a Denver-area couple, Ryan and Griffen O’Shaughnessy.
Ryan is the great-grandson of Ignatius Aloysius O'Shaughnessy, who founded Lario Oil and Gas and amassed a fortune.
The main building of Notre Dame’s College of Arts & Letters bears his name. A foundation he started currently has $80 million in assets.
According to a March 2020 article in Oil and Gas Investor Magazine, Ryan and his father, Mike, bought most of the oil business from the family. Ryan now serves as president.
The company is doing well. In 2022, it sold off some of its Texas holdings for $1.5 billion.
As you know, oil fortunes are often tied to right-wing politics.
Three members of the O’Shaughnessy family, Gerald, Tim, and Mike (presumably Ryan’s father), were listed as attendees at a 2010 Koch brothers retreat about fighting back against the horrors wrought by Barack Obama.
Gerald's wife, Priscilla, sits on the board of the American Conservative Union, which runs CPAC.
As for Ryan, he’s donated to conservative politicians. His Instagram paints an even clearer picture. He follows every member of the Trump family (except for Tiffany, which is frankly rude), and accounts like The Gateway Pundit, Lauren Chen, Candace Owens, and Project Veritas.
He also follows Gays Against Groomers, a Libs of TikTok derivative that almost exclusively focuses on attacking the trans community (Sample post: Spilling the Tea on the T; The Pedophilic Roots of the Trans Movement).
(While XX-XY Athletics says it has nothing against the trans community, one of the 154 accounts it follows is also Gays Against Groomers).
Ryan’s wife, Griffen, runs a firm that pairs start-ups with “fractional executives,” who lend their expertise without collecting sky-high salaries. In May 2024, she interviewed Sey at her office about the brand’s launch.
A post on LinkedIn about the conversation said the firm “is glad to have helped them build that startup team.”
Other documents illuminate the family’s relationship with XX-XY Athletics.
When Committee of Five filed to use the trade name XX-XY Athletics in Colorado, almost a year after Sey was made Committee of Five’s registered agent, the document was signed by a Lario Oil employee.
In its business filings with Colorado, Committee of Five’s location and mailing addresses are addresses for Ryan and Griffen’s firms.
Two SEC filings show that XX-XY Athletics recently took $1.25 million in capital for an equity stake. In the documents, Sey is listed as the company’s CEO. Ryan and Griffen are listed as Executive Officers, the company’s Treasurer and Secretary, respectively.
Then there’s the lawsuit. When Committee of Five sued Colorado, it brought on six lawyers at a top-tier law firm. The suit was mostly dismissed, but Committee of Five is now appealing. The case has lasted over a year. Sey has framed the fight as existential to her company’s existence. Unless it’s being represented for free (and maybe it is!), that’s a lot of legal bills for a start-up.
Whether the family provided seed capital, or owns a stake in the company, or is helping pay for lawyers, I can’t say.
But those are some interesting ties. And any time money might be influencing the discourse in unseen ways, I think it’s important for the public to know who could be involved.
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XX-XY Athletics Shirt via Amanda Loman/Stringer/Getty Images
