The problem with this discussion is that it represents everything that is right and wrong with America. Its also steeped in religion, which makes it an argument that is unwinnable. The very existence of this forum is rooted in principals of free speech, which is inextricably intertwined with freedom to practice one's religion. We start to go off the rails with a person's religious practices impact the rights of others.
As a preliminary matter, I believe it would be best if our National Team refrained from engaging in any kind of extraneous advocacy unrelated primarily to soccer. Abide by the law, don't discriminate and play.
As I understand the player's decision, she chose not to wear a jersey that the National Team elected to wear to honor LGBTQ month. This jersey deviated from the typical red, white and blue by incorporating rainbow numbers and would be later auctioned off to raise money for LGBTQ charities.
The player refused to wear the jersey based on her religious beliefs. She did not state that her motivation was to not play with gay teammates, rather, she refused to support the extraneous advocacy of the National Team as contrary to her religious beliefs. The player has every right to make a personal choice to refuse to support the national team because the national team has chosen to openly advocate for a non-soccer related issue.
Sports are entertainment and from a national and international perspective we should endeavor to be an inclusive as possible. We should also refrain from attempting to use sports for political/social/religious advocacy beyond adhering to a policy of being intolerant against intolerance.
The belief that US Soccer should stay out of non-soccer issues is finally a legitimate point, more or less. It is certainly more so than the moron who thinks people must respect Hinkle’s homophobic opinion, especially when carefully timed to coincide with the start of gay pride month to make the most offensive possible impact on a show with a long and inglorious track record supporting oppression of gays, blacks, foreigners and pretty much every other group that god allegedly tells “racist grandpa” founder Pat Robertson to denigrate.
A couple counter-points. First, USSF is a private entity. As such, it has the same right to slap rainbow numbers on a jersey that In-n-Out has to put religious slogans on cups and Hobby Lobby to refuse birth control coverage on its health plan. I don’t think the government even funds US Soccer, so you can’t even claim tax dollars are being used to support a historically oppressed group. But religious oppressors don’t to go down that road anyway because....
Even if we US Soccer were a government entity by virtue of it being granted monopoly status, I guess I’m fine with not supporting LBGT causes as soon as the US Government stops supporting religious ones. We have a congressionally mandated national day of prayer, our tax dollars pay a congressional chaplain, allof our money specifically references god, our kids say the religious pledge of allegiance in public schools, and the Catholic Church alone has received more than $2 billion in taxpayer money since 2012. If the government is going to stop supporting oppressed minority groups, it should stop supporting the religions that oppress them.
Next, of course Hinkle has the right to decide that hating gay people is more important to her than playing on the WNT. But I don’t need to respect it, and the WNT certainly doesn’t need to either. If she wants to continue to publicly offend her employer, many of her co-workers, and a significant portion of the customer base a year after the fact, she gets she deserves. Like I said earlier, good riddance.
Finally, you’re wrong that I won’t “win” this argument. Certainly, my in-your-face approach will never change anyone’s mind. But the days in which bigoted people could make their bigoty positions publicly known without getting called out and shamed are over. Sure, they’ll still state them here because they can hide in cowardly anonymity, but constant reminders that people no longer put up with it means they sure aren’t going to discuss Hinkle the homophobe’s “bravery” in anything other than hushed tones (if at all) at work, on the soccer sidelines, or anywhere other than their homes and steepled houses of bigotry. In fact, I’m just cleaning up the remnants of a battle I’ve already won. A generation ago, people used religious bigotry to prevent a black man from marrying a white woman and from eating BBQ in Alabama. Now, that same black man can marry a white dude and eat ribs anywhere he wants. And the WNT can therefore dump you for not representing American values.