Eight fans ejected from Portland Thorns match over pro-women apparel

Eight people arrived at Providence Park on a Sunday in September wearing shirts that said things like "Save Women's Sports" and "Woman." They were also wearing gear from XX-XY Athletics. They had tickets. They sat in their assigned seats. Within minutes, stadium security approached them.

Video footage shows Amy E. Sousa speaking with a venue staff member for roughly a minute while the group remained seated. No disturbance had occurred. No one was being loud or blocking views or interfering with other fans' experience of the match between the Portland Thorns and Washington Spirit. The staff member handed the group a card citing a violation of the Providence Park and NWSL Code of Conduct, then escorted all eight people out of the building.

The card warned that the group had 72 hours to expect contact about additional penalties. It also stated that refusing to provide personal information on the spot could result in a permanent ban from all future events at the stadium. Later, Sousa said she was told the group had been accused of being transphobic.

What made this ejection notable was what preceded it. Hours before the match, Hannah Perry, an organizer with a local LGBTQ group, sent a Facebook message to Sousa stating that she had already notified the Portland Police Department, the mayor, and Governor Tina Kotek about the group's planned attendance. Perry wrote that she was also contacting Providence Park directly and coordinating with local organizations to demand the group's removal. In the message, Perry called Sousa "a pathetic excuse of a human being" and wrote, "I hope that you're not allowed into the stadium."

Sousa later posted on social media pushing back against any suggestion the group had caused trouble. "We did nothing," she wrote. "We had not even shown our shirts. We were dressed like this when ejected." She said she had received online warnings before the match but dismissed them. "I didn't take it seriously," she recalled. "I was like, what are they going to do? Arrest us for watching soccer?"

The contrast in how Portland's sports venues treated similar apparel added another layer to the story. Sousa had previously attended a Portland Fire WNBA game at the Moda Center wearing her XX-XY Athletics shirt. Not only was she allowed to stay, but she was featured on the arena's massive jumbotron during the live broadcast. The same apparel that drew applause at one Portland venue drew ejection at another.

Providence Park is owned by the City of Portland but operated by a private company. The NWSL's Fan Code of Conduct prohibits spectators from displaying signs, symbols, words, or imagery used for political campaigning or advocacy. Yet neither the league nor the venue has established an objective standard for determining when basic slogan apparel crosses into banned political expression. Enforcement largely comes down to staff discretion—and, as this incident suggests, to who is lobbying stadium officials before a match even begins.

Requests for comment sent to Providence Park management, the Portland Thorns, and NWSL headquarters went unanswered. The incident left a straightforward question hanging: At a publicly owned stadium, who decides what fans can wear, and what happens when that decision is shaped by pressure from outside groups rather than by clear, consistent policy?