DOJ Steps In After Portland Thorns Security Threw Out Women in XX-XY Shirts

The U.S. Justice Department is now looking into what happened at Providence Park on Friday night, when stadium security in Portland, Oregon, threw out a group of women wearing XX-XY Athletics shirts, a brand whose message is that women's sports are for women, after other fans hit them with trans-flag poles.

"The Justice Department is aware of these reports and will review the matter thoroughly. Where the facts and the law warrant action, the Department will not hesitate to act," a department spokesperson told OutKick's Jackson Thompson, who broke the news Saturday. A DOJ official went further: "Based on what is known so far, the conduct described appears to raise viewpoint discrimination and First Amendment questions rather than sex discrimination. The Department is reviewing it."

In plain English: Washington's first read is that these women may have been punished for what their shirts said. That's the kind of thing the Constitution forbids the government from doing.

What happened Friday

About 20 women's-sports supporters went to the Thorns' match against the North Carolina Courage. They kept their XX-XY shirts covered through the first half, then revealed them and unrolled a "Save Women's Sports" banner as the second half started, OutKick reported. Video shows members of the group being hit with flagpoles carrying transgender flags and cursed at. Then security removed the women, not the people swinging the poles.

Seattle commentator Brandi Kruse, one of the organizers, had her arm held behind her back as guards walked her out, and she ended up being carried. "We peacefully wore our shirts. We were assaulted by fans. Then WE were forced to leave – with FORCE by stadium security," she wrote that night, in a post that has passed a million views. Activist Amy Sousa, who co-organized the group, told OutKick she and others filed police reports. "We were attacked by fans. We were hit with flags," she said. UNGA NEWS covered the removal Friday night.

Even the press got roughed up. OutKick reporter Matt Calkins, who was credentialed for the game, had his phone knocked out of his hand and beer poured on his neck, and a security guard pulled the credential off his neck mid-interview before handing it back, OutKick reported. Kruse posted about it Saturday morning.

Police log two possible crimes

The Portland Police Bureau says it didn't throw anyone out. "PPB officers were not involved in any removals," Sgt. Kevin Allen told Fox News Digital. Off-duty officers working the game were called when some of the women refused to leave and lay down, blocking an exit, and the women agreed to leave when officers asked. Outside, officers kept the two sides apart for a short time.

"Two potential crimes were reported, case numbers 26-309064 (alleged harassment) 26-309306 (alleged vandalism)," Allen said. No arrests were made and no citations were issued, both cases are under investigation, and officers had their body cameras on.

Why the stadium's owner matters

Here is the detail that makes this more than a fight with a private team. Providence Park is owned by the City of Portland, OutKick noted. A private company, Peregrine Sports, runs it, and the Thorns are owned separately by RAJ Sports. The city's Spectator Venues Program oversees its interest in the stadium and its deal with the operator.

A private club can set its own rules. The government can't silence one side of a debate, and the Supreme Court ordinarily strikes down rules that target a particular opinion, which is what lawyers call viewpoint discrimination. Think of it like a city park: the city can ban bullhorns for everyone, but it can't ban only the signs it disagrees with. The open question is whether city officials, or private staff working with them, helped set or enforce the decision to remove these women because of their message.

Federal law also makes it a crime for anyone acting "under color of law" to willfully take away someone's constitutional rights (18 U.S.C. § 242). DOJ hasn't named that statute or announced any charges. It has said it is reviewing the case and will act if the facts and law support it.

Second time in seven weeks

This wasn't a one-off. On Sept. 6, a group of fans, Sousa among them, was removed during the Thorns' match against the Washington Spirit, KATU reported. The club said they were "distributing unapproved materials," a line the women deny, and said it was "reviewing the incident." The same group was then turned away from The Sports Bra, a Portland women's sports bar, where Sousa says staff called their shirts "transphobic" and said they were "making someone feel unsafe." The club gave the same "unapproved materials" reason for Friday's removals, We Are Portland reported.

The Thorns, who clinched their 10th straight playoff berth Friday with a 1-0 win, spent Saturday morning celebrating that on X. OutKick said neither the club, Peregrine Sports nor Portland city officials had answered its questions about the DOJ review. The club and the NWSL also hadn't answered Sport & State.

'The DOJ has entered the chat'

XX-XY Athletics summed up Saturday in six words: "The DOJ has entered the chat," the brand posted, drawing nearly 7,000 likes in a few hours. Founder Jennifer Sey, a former national-champion gymnast, said she started the brand because Nike and others only pretend to stand up for women. "I'm still stunned every single day that a statement of fact -- there are two sexes (therefore women deserve their own sports & spaces) -- produces this kind of mob rage. It's truly deranged," she wrote.

Riley Gaines, the former Kentucky swimmer who has led the fight to keep men out of women's sports, put the double standard plainly: one side "can have their flags and wave them in your face, but you can't wear a shirt highlighting biological reality because it could offend them. Free speech means nothing to these activist organizations." Her post drew more than 21,000 likes.

Sports host Clay Travis shared the news with his followers, and Kruse posted a video Saturday walking through what led up to the night. Her point from the start has been simple: a shirt that says women are women isn't hate speech. Now the federal government is asking whether a city-owned stadium treated it like it was.