Hours after eight people’s removal at Providence Park during an NWSL match, a similar incident took place at Portland’s famous The Sports Bra. A few fans were asked to vacate the bar for wearing XX-XY Athletics T-shirts, which raised complaints from a few other customers. The Oregon sports bar is widely known for being the first spot exclusively dedicated to broadcasting women’s sports. They have always been a huge influence on social media; however, this incident angered fans and sparked significant backlash.
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The matter escalated further after Jennifer Sey, founder of XX-XY Athletics, called out the bar online. XX-XY is a clothing company dedicated to preserving the biological female sports category in women’s sports.
While resharing the viral video, Sey said, “The Sports Bra kicks people out if they wear @xx_xyathletics tees. What’s up @TheSportsBraPDX?” She further added, “None of these guests even interacted with other customers. They just wanted to watch the Thorns game.”
With growing online backlash and boycott calls, Sports Bra finally doubled down on their stance with an official statement on their Instagram page. “Our mission is to SUPPORT, PROMOTE AND EMPOWER GIRLS AND WOMEN IN SPORTS, and to be clear: Trans girls are girls and trans women are women. We will always support and celebrate them at The Sports Bra. We DO NOT TOLERATE messages or conduct that demean or exclude the very community we exist to serve and celebrate,” the post stated.
The clip from the bar showed a staff member of The Sports Bra explaining the reason behind Sousa and her group’s ejection from the venue. “There are people here that are in here who are uncomfortable with those shirts, so I am asking y’all to leave,” the employee said.
Women’s rights activist Amy Sousa, who shot the incident at the bar on video, was also removed from Providence Park following a similar incident. She posted later on social media the outfit she was wearing when she was ejected: a bright red zipped-up hoodie with the brand’s logo on the left. She also had a scarf on that partly covered the logo.
In the clip of the stadium incident, the stadium staff handed Sousa and her group a card with the details of their violation of the stadium and NWSL code of conduct.
The controversy is not restricted to only Portland or Thorns fans. It is one of the most widespread debates across all sports. The back-to-back incidents at Providence Park and The Sports Bra have clearly overshadowed the Thorns’ defeat against Washington Spirit on their home turf.
However, many netizens also await a decision or statement from NWSL about the incident at the stadium. Moreover, whether the league will make any rule changes for spectators.