Fans with XX-XY shirts thrown out of Portland Soccer game

Fans wearing XX-XY shirts during a Portland Thorns women’s soccer game Friday were forcibly escorted out by stadium security, according to the clothing company’s blog. The apparel brand advocates for protecting women’s sports and spaces from male participation or access. Video footage seemed to show the women’s sports fans being confronted by transgender advocates carrying transgender pride flags on poles. The U.S. Department of Justice is reviewing the incident, FOX News reported.

The Portland Police Bureau told WORLD that it was aware of the incident, and while there were many PPB officers at the event, none were involved in any removals. Police said they were called in when some individuals refused to leave and blocked an exit by lying down. When the individuals were asked to leave by police officers, they did. Outside, the police for a short time separated two groups with opposing viewpoints , the bureau said. Alleged harassment and alleged vandalism were the only crimes reported. No one reported any injuries to police, and no injuries were visible. No immediate arrests were made or citations issued, according to Portland police.

WORLD reached out to the DOJ and Thorns management for comment and will update with any responses received.

What did the videos show? One video from FOX showed a group of women wearing XX-XY shirts holding up signs from their seats that said, “Save Women’s Sports.” A group holding transgender flags tried to block their signs with the transgender flags while shouting at them. A different video showed security forcibly removing one of the women with XX-XY shirts.

Brani Kruse posted a video of her being escorted out of the soccer game Friday by a security guard who held her by the arm and pulled her out of the stadium. Kruse asked several times for security to let her go and insisted that she did not do anything wrong, but two security guards continued to forcibly remove her. She said she would wait for the Portland Police, but the security team removed her themselves. It wasn’t immediately clear if any of the transgender flag holders were removed from the stadium.

What did the DOJ say? The DOJ told FOX News Digital Saturday that the Justice Department is aware of the reports and will review the matter thoroughly. They said they will not hesitate to act if the facts and the law warrant action. The DOJ told FOX separately that the conduct described appears to raise viewpoint discrimination and First Amendment questions rather than sex discrimination.

Dig Deeper: Read Liz Lykins’ earlier report about the WNBA allowing fans to wear XX-XY Athletics shirts.