At the University of Minnesota, fans of the women's basketball team and supporters of that state's gay community organized a word-of-mouth protest of Rene Portland at yesterday's Lady Lions game. It was the second protest at an away game this season.

Former Penn State women's basketball player Cindy Davies, who said she left the team because of anti-gay comments Portland made, was at the event, making television appearances.

According to Davies, out of 11,500 attendees to the game, several hundred were protesting. To show support for gay athletes, many wore lavender- and rainbow-colored shirts, while others had buttons or signs for the tipoff at 5 p.m. Central Standard Time at Williams Arena.

"It was a very subtle thing -- it was nice support," Davies said. "It was nothing in your face. We don't want that. We're not trying to do that. We're trying to support the truth so more can be heard about it."

Portland and the Lady Lions seemed to look past the potential distraction. They came away with one of their most impressive road efforts, a close 77-72 loss against No. 14 Minnesota.

"She's focusing on the game right now, not anything like that," said Erin Whiteside, Penn State Sports Information's director for women's basketball.

The grassroots, citizen-based initiative was publicized by OutFront Minnesota, Minnesota's leading public policy agency for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Minnesota residents and their allies.

On Dec. 21, former Lady Lion Jen Harris and the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) filed a lawsuit in the Federal Middle District Court of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg. Harris alleged that she was asked to leave the team because Portland perceived her to be a lesbian during her year and a half as a member of the women's basketball team.

Davies left the team in 1980, citing similar reasons as Harris. She came forward to the NCLR and appeared on the ESPN show Outside the Lines that aired Dec. 18.

In the hours before tipoff, Davies made television appearances with the local affiliates of ABC, CBS and NBC.

"I can't allow it to [happen] to anybody else," Davies said in a Jan. 28 press release from OutFront. "If I can help them, I'm going to do whatever it takes."

OutFront did not organize the event. Rather, knowledge of the event circulated through the Internet and phone calls.

The organization gave its support to the protesters by sending e-mail messages to its members and posting a press release on its Web site encouraging people to attend the game in support of gay athletes.

"It's kind of a neat protest, because it's very much a word-of-mouth protest," said Ann DeGroot, executive director for OutFront. "They just want to bring attention to the fact that this coach has a history of saying things against lesbian athletes and lesbian fans."

Portland has been protested outside the Bryce Jordan Center on several occasions this season, but yesterday marked just the second time an away game has had an organized effort.

On Jan. 5, Michigan Equality, a group that fights for minority rights, and the Michigan State University Alliance of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and allied students organized an effort against Portland.

Their silent protest drew at least 500 supporters, according to Nancy English, assistant administrative director for Michigan Equality.

While the protestors at Michigan State sat as a group, those at Minnesota sat around sporadically throughout the stands. Some of those not clad in paraphernalia approached Davies to show their gratitude for her effort.

Such factors made it difficult to discern the scale of the evening.

"There was no specific group, say out at Michigan, where they were all together," Davies said. "There were more than a couple of hundred for certain, but I would have no idea for sure."