Around 20 “Save Women’s Sports” activists wearing XX-XY Athletics shirts were forcibly escorted out of a Portland Thorns match on Friday night after members of the group were struck and verbally berated by other fans during a demonstration supporting female-only sports.
Women’s sports activist Amy Sousa told OutKick that she and other XX-XY Athletics attendees filed police reports after being escorted out of the stadium.
In a Tuesday appearance on “The Faulkner Focus,” Sousa said she and others were bombarded with food, beer, flags and poles.
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“This is a bit of political theater. We went with a very clear message, and our message was ‘Save women’s sports.’ And we were forcibly removed from a women’s sporting event for expressing support for the very category that makes that event possible,” Sousa said on Tuesday. “Those words are really our purpose, and our purpose is to draw attention to issues that go far beyond the NWSL and impact girls in real time – in their high schools, in their junior highs and in their elementary schools. It is about professional athletics, but it is also about the girls that are facing this on their level.”
Sousa said she was told by security that their XX-XY shirts did not violate any sort of policy, but she suspects that they were taken out of the game because security “could not protect us adequately from the fans” who were harassing them.
As to why they, instead of the alleged harassers, were kicked out, Sousa was dumbfounded.
“I think a lot of people would love to hear the answer to that question,” Sousa said.
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Director of Security Jim McCausland was texted for comment, per OutKick’s request, but said he did not have time to talk. OutKick also reached out to the Thorns’ communication director for comment — specifically as to why XX-XY attendees were escorted out but not their assaulters — but received no response.
OutKick reporter Matt Calkins, who was credentialed for the match, attempted to document the confrontation but was also subjected to verbal and physical aggression. He was flipped off, called a Nazi, had his phone knocked out of his hand and had beer poured on his neck.
A separate security guard also yanked Calkins’ credential from around his neck as he interviewed Sousa. The guard returned it seconds later but declined to explain his actions when questioned.
This wasn’t the first time Sousa and XX-XY Athletics supporters had been ejected from a Thorns game at Providence Park. A smaller group was removed in early September, when Sousa said she was accused of being “transphobic” for her pro-women apparel.
But it appears that no amount of ejections or harassment will stop Sousa.
“This is about protecting the integrity of the category of sex. It’s about defending the promise of Title IX, that girls deserve equal athletic opportunity and fair competition and safety on the basis of sex,” she said. “A lot of my team was in Camas, Washington last week where 12 girls walked off their field because of a boy competing against them. So we are a group that stands with those girls, and actions like this draw attention to their struggles. Young girls should not be forced to become activists in their competition. They need adults who are willing to stand up and speak out for them.
“This isn’t about identity, this isn’t about the trans trend — this is about the integrity of girls sports.”
OutKick’s Matt Calkins and Jackson Thompson contributed to this report.