By SHANNON MCGUIGAN
Published: 19:46 EST, 7 December 2024 | Updated: 19:46 EST, 7 December 2024
A Newcastle United fan, who was barred from matches for her 'gender-critical' tweets, claims she will sue the FA in a row over rainbow armbands.
Linzi Smith, 34, alleged she is preparing to take legal action against the FA over their Rainbow Laces campaign, which shows support to the LGTBQ+ community.
The campaign, which sees players wear rainbow coloured armbands and laces, is entirely voluntary and is a matter of personal choice for teams and players.
Ms Smith, who has been banned from matches and had her membership revoked by her club until 2026 for her 'gender critical' views, has hit out at the sports association.
She claimed that wearing the rainbow accessories endorses the belief that a person can have a gender that differs to their biological sex.
In a letter issues by her lawyers, SinclairLaw, and seen by the Telegraph, Ms Smith alleged the FA had acted 'unlawfully' by 'encouraging, authorising or directing' Premier League players to wear the rainbow colours.
The statement continued to argue that accessories conveying a political message or image were 'prohibited' under FA rules.
The Newcastle United fan has now created a fundraising page in a bid to help fund her legal case.
Linzi Smith, 34, (Pictured) who has been banned from matches until 2026 because of her 'gender critical' posts, claims she is going to sue the FA over a row regarding rainbow accessories on the pitch
She claimed that wearing the rainbow accessories (Pictured: A rainbow armband) endorses the belief that a person can have a gender that differs to their biological sex
It comes shortly after Crystal Palace captain, Marc Geuhi was reprimanded by the FA for writing 'I love Jesus' on his multi-coloured armband in a match against Newcastle United.
Despite the warning, on Tuesday the footballer penned another message which read 'Jesus loves you' on his armband, with the Football Association stating he risked a ban.
However the FA did not get in touch with Ipswich captain Sam Morsy, who refused to wear the rainbow armband due to his religious beliefs, the Telegraph reports.
Ms Smith's legal letter branded the FA's stance in relation to Guehi and Morsy as 'irrational'.
She argued that they 'rightly' disapproved of the Crystal Palace captain conveying a religious message, but had 'taken the exactly opposite approach' when it came to the allegedly 'political' messaging behind the rainbow laces and armbands.
The FA Rainbow Laces campaign was first created in 2013 in collaboration with LGBTQ+ charity Stonewall and the Premier League.
An FA Spokesperson has said: 'We believe that football should be for all, and we have supported the Rainbow Laces campaign for over ten years.
'Together with our partners and the leagues across English football, we have helped to promote this inclusive and voluntary campaign to provide allyship to the LGBTQ+ community across all levels of our game.
'We do not consider the campaign to breach any of our rules.'
Ipswich captain Sam Morsy (pictured) did not wear a rainbow armband for the second time last in the match against Crystal Palace last Tuesday
Morsy and Guehi shook hands before kick-off, with Morsy not wearing a rainbow armband
Guehi was reprimanded by the FA for having 'I love Jesus' written on his armband last weekend
Despite the warning, on Tuesday the footballer etched the message 'Jesus loves you' on his armband with the Football Association stating he risk a ban
Ms Smith's legal letter branded the FA's stance in relation to Guehi and Morsy as 'irrational'
It comes after Ms Smith filed a High Court bid to stop the police force who questioned her over transphobia claims from participating in activities supportive of trans views.
She was previously the subject of a four-month investigation by the Premier League and was interviewed by Northumbria Police under caution - but no legal charges were pursued.
Ms Smith was previously pursuing two challenges, one against Newcastle United in order to overturn her ban, and one against the police to stop it from participating in activities like Pride and wearing rainbow symbols.
She also wanted the force to agree not to make public statements which are 'supportive of trans causes'.
The Newcastle supporter said she was taking action at the time because she was 'angry' at how she was treated and was afraid others like her will go through the same ordeal.
The football fan told The Telegraph she's 'always been law-abiding' and has been 'made to look like a criminal'.
Ms Smith claimed she couldn't look for a new job because she was 'frightened' of how she will be perceived.
She sent a pre-action letter to the force ahead of a judicial review being lodged stating the police should stop using or encouraging 'flags, emblems, lanyards or symbols associated with trans causes in a public-facing way'.
Ms Smith was banned from attending games at Newcastle United until 2026
The four month investigation (pictured) conducted by Premiere League included details of where she lived
Ms Smith's tweet (pictured) which was flagged to the investigation
The letter claimed that because officers were encouraged to march in Pride, that it signalled support for gender ideology.
She also pointed to a Northern Pride event last year where officers adopted flags and emblems associated with 'trans causes' while handing out preferred pronoun badges.
Ms Smith said the force was engaging in activities which were 'signalling support for one side of a deeply contested social issue'.
She went on to brand it 'one of the most divisive or toxic issues' in modern society.
However, the football fan had previously denied that she is transphobic and claimed to be a 'gender critical lesbian' who believed women's rights have been damaged.
Ms Smith alleged that the whole situation was caused because 'other people' don't agree with her views that people who are born male but later identify as female shouldn't be allowed into protected spaces for women.
She went on to accuse the force of 'bullying and intimidating' people for holding these views.
It is understood that the FA's Rainbow Laces campaign, which sees players wear rainbow coloured armbands and laces, is entirely voluntary and is a matter of personal choice for teams and players (Stock image)
The Newcastle United fan said she feels as if she can't rely on the law because she's 'going against their agenda'.
Her legal representation told The Telegraph at the time that her case could set a precedent for deciding whether Pride and its rainbow symbols are political.
He said that by wearing rainbows, police 'have plainly breached their statutory duty of impartiality'.
MailOnline previously reported that Ms Smith was investigated by a special unit set up to expose hate speech in the game after a series of posts about the trans community on X.
Newcastle began investigating Ms Smith after receiving a complaint. They then wrote to her in November saying she was banned until 2026 for breaching the club's equality policy, which forbids 'discriminatory' comments.