In sports, biology has been substantially replaced by “gender.” Therefore, in women’s athletics, members of either sex may often participate by way of identity.
But what if one’s identity is conventionally Christian?
This question was raised in North Carolina this weekend. Concerning uniforms, the state’s National Women’s Soccer League franchise made an ideological choice. Friday night was “Pride Night,” and the Courage’s attire was made to match.
A team tweet announced, “Thank you to @TheFreshMarket for supporting us on Pride Night…and for your valued partnership with the club!”
Today’s warmup and prematch tops💙🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
Many thanks @TheFreshMarketThank you for being there for Pride Night and your continued support! #CourageUnitesUs | #ThisIsTheFreshMarket pic.twitter.com/89Fg7YgF5j
— NC Courage (@TheNCCourage) July 29, 2022
But one player didn’t like the dress: Jaelene Daniels, 29, refused to emblazon her chest with the sign of the Rainbow. She was eventually thrown out.
Before the game, the team issued this statement:
Jaelene won’t be on the roster tonight because she decided not to wear our Pride jersey.
They respected her right not to be eligible.
While we’re disappointed with her choice, we respect her right to make that decision for herself. We’re excited to celebrate the LGBTQIA+ community with our fans, players and staff tonight and look forward to hosting our first ever Pride Festival before kickoff.
To be clear, Pride Night isn’t only an annual occurrence. Source: ESPN
Friday’s game took place as part of the Courage’s Pride Night celebrations and also featured a pregame Pride festival in partnership with Harmony: NC LGBT+ Allied Chamber of Commerce and the LGBT Center of Raleigh.
On VisitRaleigh.com, a similar event was also promoted this month:
It [coalition] will host a Pride festival on Friday, July 15 from 5-7pm, ahead of the Courage’s match against Angel City at 7:30pm. WakeMed Soccer Park will host the festival, which will include local LGBTQ+ businesses and LGBTQ+-friendly entertainers as well as family-friendly activities. …
During the Courage’s Pride match against Angel City on July 15, NC Courage players will wear Pride jerseys, in addition to Pride pre-match tops prior to the game.
You can purchase NC Courage Pride jerseys and both NCFC and Courage-specific Pride scarves online or in-stadium all year. Proceeds go to the LGBT Center of Raleigh.
Back to Jaelene, this isn’t her first time to occupy an opposing cultural space. Fox News notes she balked at playing for the women’s international team in 2017. At the time, it was a Pride shirt.
In spite of the controversy NC Courage signed her back in December last year. The critics criticized the team and they responded:
We, as a club, acknowledge the negative impact Jaelene Daniels’ resignation has had on our community. We’ve spent the past few days reading your messages and reflecting on our actions. We deeply regret all of the hurt we caused, and especially to those from the LGBTQIA+ group.
Jaelene’s decision to resign was made with great care and involved significant discussions between Jaelene and the organization leaders. In those discussions, the priority was to ensure the safety and respect of all our players.
Jaelene has posted online letterTo show her respect and love:
“I remain committed to my faith and my desire for people to know that my love for them isn’t based on their belief system or sexuality. I pray and firmly believe that my teammates know how much I cherish them, respect them, and love them.”
The athlete doesn’t appear to have spoken publicly about Friday’s ordeal, but she keeps a tweet pinned to the top of her Twitter page.
LeCrae is a Christian singer.
“If you live for people’s acceptance, you’lll die from their rejection.”
Jaelene punctuated the reference with “Unashamed.”
“If you are dependent on people accepting you, you will eventually die.” – @lecrae
Unashamed.
— Jaelene Daniels (@jaelenedaniels) May 4, 2016
America is in the midst of a seismic shift: There long existed the idea that “everyone’s entitled to their opinion.” To whatever degree it remains true, the implications have evidently changed.
The notion of tolerance seems to have become a expectation of participation. And words such as “courage,” it seems, are now powerfully linked to America’s new virtue of Pride.
-ALEX
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