Women’s Rights Activists Forcibly Removed from Darts Event for Peaceful Protest

On Sunday, July 21st, women’s rights activists were forcibly removed from the Women’s World Matchplay darts event in Blackpool, England, after staging a peaceful protest against the inclusion of Aaron “Noa-Lynn” van Leuven. A male darts player competing in the women’s category. The event was organised by the Professional Darts Corporation who still allow men to compete in the women’s category.

The protest, led by campaigners Jean Hatchet and LightninLex, involved holding signs objecting to van Leuven’s participation. Most notably, one read “He’s A Man”. The World Darts Federation had previously banned males from competing in women’s events, making the protest both principled and relevant.

Video footage from the incident shows security guards aggressively manhandling Jean and Lex, despite their repeated offers to leave voluntarily. At one point, Jean was physically carried up a flight of stairs. The footage also captures guards initially accusing the women of being “homophobic.” Later, one of the men can be heard calling them “bloody lesbians.” When another woman (@Di_AHF) questioned what that had to do with anything, a guard replied, “Oh, they’re admitting it,” as though being lesbian were something to be ashamed of, in 2025. 

The video further shows Jean being restrained as Lex is forcibly separated from the group. Speaking afterward, Jean said the separation intensified the trauma: not only were they being physically mishandled, but isolating them made the situation significantly worse. Jean has also said that since the incident she has been suffering from nightmares, likely triggered from the traumatic response of the incident. 

The behaviour of the security personnel at the Women’s World Matchplay darts event was a blatant violation of the Security Industry Authority’s (SIA) code of conduct, a set of legally binding standards that every licensed private security operative in the UK is required to follow. The SIA mandates that security staff act with professionalism and integrity, communicate respectfully, use force only as a last resort and in a proportionate manner, exercise a duty of care to the public, and uphold ethical behaviour at all times. In this case, every one of those standards was ignored. Instead of de-escalating a peaceful protest, guards resorted immediately to physical aggression, manhandling two women who had offered to leave voluntarily. This was not an enforcement of policy, it was an abuse of power. The communication was not professional but openly hostile, with guards hurling lesbophobic slurs and falsely accusing the women of homophobia, an accusation completely detached from the reality of the situation. The use of force was excessive and unnecessary as there was no threat, no violence, no refusal to comply, yet Jean was physically carried up stairs, and the two women were deliberately separated, causing emotional distress. The duty of care owed to them was not only neglected, it was inverted, as the guards became the very source of harm. The ethical breach by mocking a woman’s sexuality while posing as defenders of inclusivity is not just unprofessional, it is discriminatory and hypocritical. These guards acted not as neutral enforcers of rules, but as ideological actors targeting women for expressing a view that conflicts with current orthodoxy. If the SIA’s code of conduct is to mean anything, this incident cannot go unchallenged. The actions of these so-called professionals demand investigation, accountability, and consequences.

This incident highlights the very real risks faced by women like Jean and Lex when they speak up for biological reality. It also reveals how accusations of homophobia are increasingly weaponised to shut down criticism of male inclusion in women’s spaces and sports. The reality is, there is nothing homophobic about calling a man a man.

Later, Jean shared photos showing the aftermath of the incident. Both she and Lex were left with visible bruises on their arms and legs, stark evidence of just how violently they had been handled by the male security staff.

How can this level of lesbophobia and misogyny be tolerated in 2025? At Not All Gays, we expect that both Event Protection Services and the Security Industry Authority take immediate action against those responsible. The individuals involved have demonstrated a complete inability to uphold even the most basic safeguarding standards. It is truly unbelievable that in 2025, same-sex attracted women would be assaulted by people in authority for peacefully protesting the presence of men in women’s sports.

When asked what she hopes to achieve by speaking out, Jean was clear, they want the PDC to uphold fairness in women’s sport by excluding men from the women’s category. Legal options are now being explored.

For further support or to get involved, please contact Jean and Lex directly: @JeanHatchet and @LightninLex.