For one group of protesters trying to gather support for ballot initiatives that would bar transgender girls and women from school sports, the Portland Thorns game last week was an opportunity to draw attention to their cause.
They chose a big Friday game for the women’s pro soccer team, one the Thorns needed to win to make the playoffs. They sat in seats close to the field, just behind one of the goals.
And most important: The general admission seats — first come first served — were next to the section reserved for the Rose City Riveters, an official fan group of the Thorns.
Based in Portland, Ore., one of the most liberal U.S. cities, the Riveters are known across the National Women’s Soccer League for their political activism, passion and rowdiness. Like the Riveters, the pro league is also known for its progressive values on L.G.B.T.Q. issues.
So was it no surprise that the group of two dozen protesters evoked ire from the Thorns fans. In the middle of the game, with cameras rolling, that clash of ideologies devolved into a scuffle, as fans booed and cursed at the protesters and security guards closed in.
“People are saying, ‘Oh, this was staged, this was staged’ — well, of course it was,” said Brandi Kruse, a conservative podcaster from Seattle who participated in the protest and posted part of the altercation on her social media account. She and other activists at the game have been heavily involved in promoting a ballot initiative in nearby Washington State that would bar transgender girls from playing in girls’ school sports from kindergarten through high school.
“The goal was just to send a message that this issue matters,” Ms. Kruse said, “and that people who care about women’s sports, like those fans clearly do, should also care about protecting women’s sports and girl sports and women’s spaces and girls’ spaces.”
The initiative on the Washington ballot mandates that students seeking to compete in the girls’ category submit documentation from their health care provider verifying the student’s sex.
The proposal says that the sex be determined at least one of three ways: physical examination of reproductive anatomy, testing of genetic makeup or analysis of naturally produced testosterone levels.
Opponents of the initiative say the process of verifying an athlete’s sex would be the most extreme policy for sports participation in the country and would all harm girls because it is so invasive.
There are no transgender athletes on the Thorns, or even in the league. But what ensued was a snapshot of efforts to remind voters of the transgender sports issue as the midterm elections grow near. A poll from Quinnipiac University in June found that 70 percent of registered voters think transgender girls and women should not play on girls’ and women’s sports teams.
Five states — including two led by Democrats, Washington and Colorado — have that issue on their ballots in some manner. Twenty-seven states, all Republican-led, already have bans in place.
The protest at the Thorns game — aimed to highlight the issue of trans athletes not just across the border in Washington, but also across the nation — started after halftime. The protesters removed their jackets to reveal shirts with a XX-XY Athletics logo and then unfurled a banner that said, “Save Women’s Sports.” XX-XY Athletics is an apparel company founded on the premise that trans girls and women should not participate in girls’ or women’s sports.
In response to the protesters, some nearby fans rushed to block the group’s shirts and banner with their blue, pink and white transgender pride flags.
The altercation ended with the protesters being escorted out of the stadium. In an interview on Tuesday, Ms. Kruse said she still didn’t know why her group — and not the Riveters — was asked to leave. She said some of the protesters were hit in the face with trans pride flags. The Thorns declined a request for comment.
In an emailed statement, the Riveters’ steering committee said its fans were holding up flags and scarves “to cover up the hateful messaging,” and said their fan section had been previously targeted by “anti-trans agitators.” In September, a much smaller group of fans wearing the XX-XY clothing and holding similar signs were also ejected from a Thorns game.
“The people with the shirts are an anti-trans group seeking to further their bigoted political agenda,” the Riveters’ statement said. “They are not trying to save women’s sports, nor are they seeking to empower or amplify minoritized voices.”
According to a Fox News report, the Department of Justice is investigating the episode at the game. Neither the Department of Justice in Washington nor the U.S. attorney in Portland responded to emails requesting comment.
Mark Jones, spokesman for the N.W.S.L., said in an emailed statement that all spectators are expected to comply with the league’s fan code of conduct and individual stadium policies. He added that the league was reviewing the circumstances surrounding the incident to make sure that policies “were applied appropriately and consistently.”
The police were called only when two anti-trans protesters blocked the exits, said Mila Mimica, a spokeswoman from the Portland Police Department. Ms. Mimica added that two potential crimes were reported, involving harassment and vandalism, but that the police did not receive any reports of injuries.
In June, the Supreme Court upheld laws in two states that barred trans female athletes from competing on girls’ and women’s sports teams.
But in Washington State, trans girls and women are still allowed to compete in that category, for now, according to the rules of the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association, the state’s governing body for school sports.
This fall, that policy came under criticism, after a cross-country runner who competed in the high school boys’ category switched early in the season and finished second at a girls’ regional meet. The athlete’s participation in the girls’ competition sparked protests, and some runners refused to participate.
If the ballot initiative in Washington passes next week, those rules allowing that runner — and other trans girls — to compete will be upended, just as the protesters wanted.
The post A Clash Over Trans Women in Sports Erupts at a Pro Soccer Game appeared first on New York Times.
