NWSL club apologized for hurting fans after rehiring anti-LGBTQ + player

La defensora del North Carolina Courage, Jaelene Daniels. Bryan Byerly/ISI Photos/Getty Images

• NWSL North Carolina club Courage renewed longtime defender Jaelene Daniels before next season.
• Daniels, formerly known by her maiden name Hinkle, is known for her anti-LGBTQ + stances.
• The franchise apologized to upset fans but signed, but failed to release Daniels.

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The North Carolina Courage issued an apology to fans, “especially those within the LGBTQIA + community,” after signing a player with a public history of homophobia.

But the National Women’s Soccer League club never parted ways with its latest acquisition.

The Courage announced Sunday that they had agreed to a one-year contract with Jaelene Daniels. Daniels, a longtime starter for the Courage who won three NWSL championships with the club, formerly known by her maiden name Hinkle, was considered one of the league’s most talented defenders before retiring in 2020 to form. a family.

Daniels. Randy Litzinger/Icon Sportswire a través de Getty Images

Early in her NWSL career, Daniels began winning calls for the US Women’s National Team. But her decision to cite “personal reasons” for turning down an invitation to a 2017 national team camp stopped her future with him. USWNT on its way.

Later, Daniels, who is a devout Christian, admitted that she had withdrawn from the USWNT camp due to her & nbsp; religious aversion to wearing an LGBTQ + pride t-shirt. & Nbsp;

Several current and former national team players publicly identify as LGBTQ +, and the USWNT has long supported them and queer fans by wearing rainbow-filled jerseys to celebrate Pride Month each June.

USWNT players pose in their pride jerseys ahead of the June showdown against Portugal. Brad Smith / ISI Photos / Getty Images

“I felt so convinced in my spirit that it was not my job to wear this shirt,” Daniels said on the Christian television show The 700 Club. “I gave myself three days to search and pray and determine what he was asking me to do in this situation.”

“I knew in my spirit that I was doing the right thing,” he added. He knew he was being obedient.

Fans did not respond favorably to the homophobic admission, which came shortly after Daniels tweeted that “this world is moving further and further away from God” over the legalization of same-sex marriage in the United States. She was routinely booed at subsequent NWSL games, and some fans even made posters criticizing “personal reasons” for missing a shot on the national team.

Daniels – & nbsp; luego Hinkle – & nbsp; con el USWNT. AP Photo/Ralph Freso

Many NWSL fans weren’t thrilled to learn that Daniels was back with North Carolina just a year after his retirement. Just three days after announcing its signing, the franchise issued a formal apology through a statement “to all those we have hurt” after they “spent the last days reading your messages and reflecting on our actions.”

But the club didn’t regret it enough to reverse course.

«The decision to re-sign Jaelene [Daniels] it was not taken lightly and included important conversations between the organization’s leadership and Jaelene, ”the statement continues. “The priority expressed in those conversations is the safety of our players and maintaining an inclusive and respectful space for the entire team.”

As many, including women’s soccer reporter André Carlisle, noted, those conversations did not include consultations with any of the LGBTQ + players or fans who would be affected by Daniels’ homophobia. Several members of the North Carolina list identify as LGBTQ +.

Courage Merritt forward Mathias poses with a rainbow Pride flag after a game on North Carolina Pride night 2021. Andy Mead / ISI Photos / Getty Images

The Courage assured fans that they would continue to host Pride-themed games with players wearing rainbow Pride jerseys. The franchise also expressed its intention “to maintain a space built around inclusion, equity and diversity.” But the club’s commitment to public displays of alliance without the same internal dedication to LGBTQ + advocacy failed to appease many outraged fans.

Players are the most progressive representatives of a franchise and its culture. So if the North Carolina titular defender openly characterizes LGBTQ + people, including his own teammates, as “lost, rejected, and abandoned,” & nbsp; that point of view would seem to represent Courage’s values ​​as a club.

North Carolina The decision to knowingly employ a player with anti-LGBTQ + views shows a fundamental disregard for many of the team’s players and sends a message of indifference to its many LGBTQ + fans. But most shocking is that the franchise statement projects a staggering lack of moral courage for a club with “Courage” in its name.

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