The Portland Thorns advanced to the NWSL playoffs Friday night, besting the North Carolina Courage, 1-0.
The match was a must-win for the Thorns, who needed the victory to secure their spot in the NWSL top eight in order to make the playoffs. A scoreless first half led to a hard push from both teams in the second, when the Thorns’ full-back Marie Müller fired off a rocket from 20 yards out in the game’s 60th minute, resulting in the only goal of the night.
Unfortunately, the Thorns’ win was nearly overshadowed by anti-trans activists who showed up at the match with an apparent intent to disrupt the game.
Per Fox News’ OutKick, approximately 20 people wearing hidden XX-XY shirts attended the match. XX-XY is a clothing brand founded by former gymnast Jennifer Sey, who has also become a leader in the anti-transgender athletes movement. The brand’s name is a reference to the pair of chromosomes that can be used to determine the sex of a baby at birth, though it’s been established that there are several variations that challenge the idea that sex is a binary classification.
The activist group appeared to have a plan in place at Friday night’s game: They had purchased tickets for seats in the same section where members of the Rose City Riveters—a long-running and raucous group of fans who “seek to support soccer in and around Portland”—sit during home games.
This isn’t the first time that interactions with the XX-XY group have made local news. They were kicked out of The Sports Bra in September. And before that, a similar group of anti-trans activists showed up outside a Portland Fire game against the Indiana Fever to support the team’s guard Sophie Cunningham, who had made a series of comments that were considered transphobic.
According to the reporting from OutKick, the group “entered [Providence Park] with their XX-XY shirts covered and kept them concealed in the first half.” They then allegedly removed their layers at the start of the second and unrolled a banner that read, “Save Women’s Sports.” While disputed by spectators at the game, the Outkick version of events focuses on the experience of the XX-XY activists who claim they were subjected to “verbal abuse and physical aggression,” which included “striking members of the group with flagpoles carrying trans flags.” Organizers of the Friday incident include Amy Sousa, who has made anti-trans activism her mission this summer, and political commentator Brandi Kruse, who was part of the group that organized XX-XY events at the Fire game.
OutKick also reported that the Portland Police were called to Providence Park to address XX-XY activists who were lying down near the entrance. “When asked by police officers, the individuals agreed to leave,” the Portland Police Bureau told the outlet.
The incident was covered by OutKick reporter Matt Calkins, who was previously employed by the Seattle Times, but left the newspaper in August 2026, allegedly after a story that platformed an anti-trans viewpoint was rejected by his editors.
Calkins joined the sports arm of Fox News as a reporter in September, and a spokesperson for the outlet confirmed he was credentialed by the Thorns a few days before the match.
“We were attacked by fans. We were hit with flags. We had drinks thrown at us,” Sousa told Calkins in claims that were later disputed. Members of the XX-XY group also allege they were forcibly removed from the stadium by security.
In a statement to the Mercury, members of the Rose City Riveters have pushed back on those accusations. They deny engaging in any acts of physical violence, saying their group’s response “was to hold up flags and scarves to cover up the hateful messaging while alerting Providence Park security and staff of the incident and group.”
“This is the third incident of targeted harassment by anti-trans agitators in our stadium and specifically our section,” the statement continued. “On September 6, the same agitator group was removed from the stadium after we learned their clear and stated intent was to harass supporters and disrupt our community.”
The Riveters also noted that at least one person involved “was an individual with a documented history of targeted harassment and racist and anti-trans messaging.” The person in question was also banned from the stadium in 2025, but that ban was rescinded by the Thorns ahead of the October 23 game.
“To put it bluntly: The people with the shirts are an anti-trans group seeking to further their bigoted political agenda,” the group added. “They are not trying to save women’s sports, nor are they seeking to empower or amplify minoritized voices…. They are grifters moving their culture war into our arena.”
A fan, who requested anonymity and was seated in the same section at Friday night’s game, also spoke to the Mercury, supporting the claims that Thorns fans did not engage in physical violence.
“I saw Thorns fans rushing to hold up the trans rights flags and struggling to keep them aloft as the XX-XY folks tried to pull them down,” the fan said.
“There was a brunette in an XX-XY shirt standing on the aisle who got extremely agitated and was pulling at the flags, and thrashing around,” the fan continued. “Any physical engagement I observed was around keeping the flags held aloft while the XX-XY people tried to rip them down. It was really chaotic.”
“I do know it felt like FOREVER for security to come and do anything,” they added.
Representatives for the Thorns, the NWSL Players Association, and the NWSL have not replied to the Mercury’s request for comment about the credentialing process or the incident at the October 23 match.
Following their ejection from the stadium, Kruse—who has not responded to the Mercury’s requests for comment—reshared a tweet from a member of their group who insisted they were later picked up by a Lyft driver who discovered their identity and what they stood for, and asked them to leave the vehicle. When the passenger later contacted Lyft to complain, they allege their account with the platform was deactivated.
In a statement to the Mercury, a Lyft spokesperson responded, “Everyone deserves to feel safe and respected on the Lyft platform, and discrimination of any kind has no place in our community. Our Safety team was in contact with both the rider and the driver involved and we are continuing to review the incident.”
A source with knowledge of Lyft operations also told the Mercury that once a safety alert is issued, accounts may be temporarily placed on hold so the company can review the complaints. The company also does not share details about complaints made by individuals or subsequent actions that take place in response.
Similar altercations, like those at Friday’s Thorns game, have popped up all over the country since the summer, as conservative and MAGA-affiliated commentators, as well as right-wing politicians, have fanned the flames of what’s largely a non-existent conversation for most fans of women’s sports. This week, Enes Kanter Freedom—the former NBA player who briefly caught the public’s attention after claiming he’s female and wants to join the WNBA in 2027—was denied entry to Game 3 of the WNBA Finals by league officials.
Those efforts have increased as the midterms—largely being considered a referendum on the Trump administration—draw nearer.
While data confirms that many of these incidents rarely gain the online traction that anti-trans activists are hoping for, the conversation still hits differently in Portland, where these events continue to unfold.
“I’m a Portland Fire and Thorns season ticket holder, so I’ve been through this XX-XY situation in the course of the season for both teams,” the Thorns fan who witnessed the altercation told the Mercury. “It’s extremely upsetting, because I see women’s sports—which I care about passionately—being used by bad faith actors who don’t care about women’s sports and are using their popularity to advance a right-wing wedge issue.”
“I don’t think that ignoring the issue will make it go away,” they continued. “I think it’s vitally important that transgender folks see that we have their backs, and are willing to do all we can to support them.”
However, devising appropriate tactics for disrupting disruptors is easier said than done.
“I do know that transgender people deserve to move through the world without being faced with hate and calls for their erasure, especially at a Thorns game,” the fan said. “Right now I think we need to show the world that we’re not going to go along with these false narratives.”
Coming up, the Thorns are heading to Texas for Decision Day, in which the league plays their final matches of the regular season. They’ll face the Houston Dash on Saturday, November 1.