Group says Sheriff Keith Swank plans anti-trans protest at Seattle Reign match

Sheriff Keith Swank Directs Group to Disrupt Seattle Reign Match with Anti-Trans Messaging

Pierce County Sheriff Keith Swank has directed roughly 90 people to purchase tickets and disrupt a professional women’s soccer match at Lumen Field this weekend, according to emails shared by a political action committee opposing a statewide ballot initiative, thenewstribune.com reported.

The demonstration is planned for Sunday during Seattle Reign FC’s game against the Orlando Pride. Emails reviewed by the political action committee Defend Washington show that Swank instructed his group to wear shirts from XX-XY Athletics, a clothing brand advocating against transgender athletes in women’s sports, and display them fully at halftime in a section where the Reign fan club, the Royal Guard, typically waves Pride flags.

Tickets, Tactics, and the Infiltrator Alert

Swank began organizing the event on social media around October 24, calling for men and women to attend a sporting event wearing the brand’s shirts in the name of free speech. By October 26, under the subject line “stand up for women and girls,” Swank emailed 87 participants with specific instructions. “Go into the stadium with your shirt covered, and at half time, put it on full display,” Swank wrote.

https://t.co/65HxZo72iz

— https://x.com/SaveOurSheriff/status/2049157245825622521

After The News Tribune attempted to contact Swank by phone on Wednesday, the sheriff emailed his group again to warn them about an “infiltrator” who had tipped off the newspaper. “I posted that we should do this, and I organized it, just like I said I would,” Swank wrote to the group, adding that the leak should not deter their participation.

Neither Swank nor Seattle Reign FC responded to requests for comment regarding the planned disruption.

The Precedent in Portland and the Stakes of Initiative 638

The upcoming Lumen Field protest follows a similar incident in Portland on October 23. Conservative political commentator Brandi Kruse and several protesters were escorted out of a Portland Thorns FC match after revealing XX-XY shirts and a banner reading “Save Women’s Sports” after halftime.

Group says Sheriff Keith Swank plans anti-trans protest at Seattle Reign match

Kruse has publicly backed Initiative 638, a Washington state ballot measure facing voters ahead of the November 3 election. The initiative aims to ban transgender girls from participating in K-12 girls’ sports and requires healthcare professionals to verify student-athletes’ biological sex. Swank has also voiced strong public support for the measure on social media, writing on X that voters should “vote to keep boys out of girl sports.”

Defend Washington director Reiny Cohen criticized the coordination in a news release, noting that no transgender women play on the Reign roster or anywhere else in the National Women’s Soccer League.

Nothing says protecting women’s spaces like disrupting a major women’s professional soccer event for your own political purposes and to boost social media views. They are trying to distract from the fact that I-638 will require all girls to submit to invasive sex inspections just to play elementary, middle, and high school sports because they know voters don’t support harming girls.

Voters will decide the fate of Initiative 638 on November 3, while Sunday’s playoff-qualifying match proceeds under heightened tensions in the stands.