The banner challenged recent legislation in Florida dubbed the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill.
National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) franchise Orlando Pride have issued an apology after allegedly telling a supporters’ group that they could not display a banner in their stadium containing the word ‘gay’ during a home match at the weekend.
The Black Swans Drinking Club wanted to put the banner up as a response to recent legislation which has been dubbed the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill, and took to Twitter to explain how the Pride had told them the sign was political and had to be taken down when the team drew 0-0 against the Washington Pride in the Challenge Cup on Saturday.
The NWSL announced it would meet with the Black Swans to determine what happened, and the Pride stated on Tuesday that the conversations had concluded the order was a mistake.
The Pride released a joint statement with the Black Swans and, after talks not just with the group but also other “supporters, players, front office and team staff as well as community leaders in LGBTQIA+ activism”, realized that it had “wrongly focused on signage polices and procedures, instead of allowing the important meaning of this message.”
Joint Statement from the Orlando Pride and @BlackSwansDC.
📝 https://t.co/A47S9lo8gI pic.twitter.com/MNAyF2ZPiE
— Orlando Pride (@ORLPride) March 22, 2022
