Air Force Academy Forces Fan To Hide Pro-Women’s Sports Shirt

The U.S. Air Force Academy forced a graduate attending the school’s recent volleyball match to cover up his shirt showing support for keeping men out of women’s sports.

First reported by Outkick, the incident occurred on Saturday, when 2002 class graduate John Kopecky attended the academy’s volleyball matchup against San Jose State University (SJSU) while wearing a shirt that read, “Keep Women’s Sports Female.” As The Federalist previously reported, Blaire Fleming, a trans-identifying male, has been permitted to play on SJSU’s volleyball team and compete against opposing female players in collegiate matches.

At least five collegiate women’s volleyball teams have forfeited their matches against SJSU to protest Fleming’s participation in the game.

According to Outkick, the Air Force graduate claimed he was permitted to enter the match, but was informed he would be asked to leave should he remove his sweatshirt covering the shirt in question.

Video of the incident shows Kopecky being confronted by academy officials while sitting courtside at the Air Force’s match against SJSU. The outlet noted that the Air Force graduate was confronted by school officials, who “told him to unzip his sweatshirt to reveal what he was wearing underneath.”

An unidentified male official told Kopecky he couldn’t wear his “Keep Women’s Sports Female” shirt because the school viewed it as “political.” When asked by Kopecky to explain how the shirt is political, the official replied, “It’s obvious … You know what it is. And there’s a reason why you wore it today.”

Kopecky claimed he wore the same shirt during the volleyball team’s match several days prior and “no one said a word” to him about it. The official accused the Air Force graduate of lying, and again refused to clarify how the shirt is “political.”

An unidentified female official interjected, telling Kopecky that he “can put [his] sweatshirt on or turn the shirt inside-out.”

“We’re trying to keep a comfortable and safe environment,” she said.

Kopecky asked the officials if he could wear the shirt to the school’s football game that day, to which both officials replied, “Yeah.” The female official followed up by claiming they “know why” Kopecky decided to wear the shirt to the women’s volleyball match, and that his choice to don such apparel is “targeted.”

“I don’t think I’m targeting anything,” Kopecky said. “I’m coming here to a women’s sports event. I was here Thursday night, and no one said a word when I wore this shirt.”

According to Outkick, “Kopecky noted a few other changes to the usual process at Air Force home volleyball games. He said they had a banner letting fans know that they would not allow signs into the game, at all.” He also contended the school had a “big board” with rules governing “fan conduct.”

“They brought out a big board with all these rules about fan conduct that may have been there in the past, but I’ve never seen it [displayed] right at the door,” he said. 

The Air Force Academy reportedly declined to address Outkick’s specific questions about the incident and whether the school screened attendees’ apparel before entry and if signs were prohibited from the match. Instead, the academy said, “Air Force Athletics takes necessary measures to provide a safe environment at all home athletic events for players, coaches, staff and fans.”

The incident isn’t the first in which the Air Force Academy has flirted with leftist politics, however.

According to a 2022 Fox News report, the school has regularly forced cadets to undergo racist DEI trainings. In a slideshow titled, “Diversity & Inclusion: What it is, why we care, & what we can do,” cadets are instructed to utilize words that “include all genders” and avoid using terms such as “mom,” “dad,” and “colorblind.”

[READ: Report: The Military’s Obsession With DEI Politics Is Hampering Its Readiness]

An academy attendee writing under a pseudonym detailed in the Washington Examiner last year his experiences with the school’s embrace of “leftist ideologies.” He specifically noted how “critical race theory and diversity, equity, and inclusion trainings [are] being forced upon us by academy leadership,” and that in doing so, the school has “divided the cadet wing from within, in a profession where unity is essential.”

“The majority of cadets do not like this training and see it as divisive and bad for morale. But the academy continues to elevate the voices of cadets who agree with the training and want to spread leftist ideology further,” the cadet wrote.