Fan of Air Force Academy women's volleyball team made to cover up 'Keep Women’s Sports Female' shirt during game against San Jose State, trans player

During Saturday’s volleyball game between the women’s teams of San Jose State University and the Air Force Academy, a fan was prevented from wearing a shirt that read "Keep Women’s Sports Female" by security officials. This comes as many teams have forfeited games against San Jose State University, which has biological male player Blaire Fleming on its team.

John Kopecky, who graduated from the Air Force Academy, shared video with OutKick showing the moment he was told he could not wear the shirt. "We don’t do anything political here," a person off-camera told Kopecky.

"How is this political?" Kopecky said.

"It's obvious," the off screen man said, "no need to explain it to you, you know what it is. And there’s a reason you wore it today."

A woman off-camera later told Kopecky that he could put a sweatshirt on or turn the shirt inside out, and that "we’re trying to keep this a comfortable and save environment."

Kopecky said that he had a sweatshirt on before but someone had told him to take it off. The man said that "they didn’t" ask him to take it off, but to "open it so we can see" what was under it.

Kopecky, who had asked earlier in the conversation why he couldn’t wear the shirt that day when he had worn it to another game the previous night, asked whether he could wear the shirt to a football game that day. The man and woman responded that he could.

The man and woman ordered that Kopecky zip up his sweatshirt all the way, and said that if the zipper came down and the shirt was visible, Kopecky would be asked to leave.

In an interview with OutKick, Kopecky said, "They've never made me unzip a hoody to get in before, so that was unusual," adding that he saw several people watching him during the game to make sure he complied. "I saw security pointing me out to the superintendent [and] the commandant. I could kind of see out of the corner of my eye, they were pointing at where I was sitting."

Kopecky said that another departure from usual games was that the Air Force was not allowing banners at the home game. The school usually prohibits just "unapproved banners/signs (no signs larger than 18" x 24")."

"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. 

This comes as multiple schools have dropped out against San Jose State and trans player Fleming. Southern Utah University, Boise State University, the University of Wyoming, and Utah State University all forfeited their games against San Jose State.

The women’s volleyball team at the University of Nevada-Reno voted to forfeit their game against the school, however, the university has said that the October 26 game will continue as planned. 

"The University intends to move forward with the match as scheduled, and the players may choose not to participate in the match on the day of the contest. No players will be subject to any team disciplinary action for their decision not to participate in the match," a spokesperson for the school said.