#that 1 homophobe in the nwsl

[rollaroundincompliments]

Those of you who don't closely follow the US Women's Soccer Team may not know what's going on recently. You may remember the team being both very good and very gay, lead by purple haired lesbian Megan Rapinoe. Unfortunately, this is no longer the case and things with the team have quickly gone down hill following Rapinoe's retirement.

The Olympic roster was recently announced and included in it is a player who is openly and largely unapologetically homophobic. No public repercussions or criticisms of her views have come from the team. Rather fans are being shamed by the new head coach and told we should "learn to embrace" a player who so openly hates so many of us.

So I am here to inform you about some of the top queer players from other teams you should be rooting for if you, like me, do not want to support the US team during the Olympics this year.

#1 Marta (she/her)

Truly what is there to say about Marta that hasn't been said. The Brazilian Goat and the queen of women's soccer. The Olympics will be her last major tournament with the Brazilian national team and the world of soccer will be much poorer when she leaves.

She is also joined by many queer teammates including Debhina, Lauren, and Adriana

#2 Quinn (they/them)

In 2021 Quinn became the first openly nonbinary athlete to a win a gold medal, when Canada defeated Sweden for the top prize. Canada's strategy last Olympics was to be a defensive powerhouse and Quinn, as a defensive midfielder, played a huge role in that effort. They will very likely be on the roster this year to defend Canada's gold, joined by queer teammates Kadeisha Buchanan and Kailen Sheridan.

#3 Barbara Banda (she/her)

Barbara Banda, the Zambian phenomenon, is a fast, intelligent, and technically gifted player who is currently leading the Orlando Pride (NWSL team) to crush every record in the book including a 6-0 victory last weekend, after the first goal of which she ran directly to the pride flag to celebrate:

There are many many more queer players who are going to be at the womens soccer tournament during the Olympics, but these are three that absolutely deserve your support

[whatimdoing-here]

weird personal update under cut, mostly for those who've been around awhile. i guess i can put an intro too.

honestly there are so many new followers here i'm assuming for gif reasons but... like.. sorry guys. it's a fairly rare thing. others do them better and quicker than me for the most part. my poor 7 year old laptop i make them on is a struggle. new person intro to me below, but first let me get to the part where i journal so it's off my chest.

i use tumblr as a journal of sorts. and honestly it's thanks to tumblr in general i started questioning my sexuality when i was in my mid 20s. living in a very white, conservative state - even if you live in a liberal family, that shit just gets ingrained. i was never homophobic or anything, just didn't consider anything other than straight an option. long story short, figured the bi was the best label for me at that time, definitely made me feel better, and more like myself. my partner (husband) was like yeah that's cool all good i support you let me know if you need anything from me and it's been great since.

another... long-ish story in a shorter form... i started struggling the last year or two with all of it again. just feelings and s.x feelings and whatever, a big reason of why i started therapy. basically come to the decision i land on the ace spectrum somewhere. i know much less about being asexual, and it definitely doesn't feel as "good" coming to this realization. i think i probably fall close to the demi- label. but labels and feelings are hard. and since 1) i'm pretty uneducated and 2) no one wants to hear about my sx life, i'm not going to go into things. i just wanted to throw out there that... i'm still figuring shit out. this convo with m was a lot harder, went a lot worse. then there was a better second convo. he's still supportive, it's just harder for reasons that are personal to him so i won't delve into. our relationship is okay, he doesn't want to open our marriage, and not much has changed honestly. i'm still trying to figure out my boundaries, and where my 'am i doing this because i want to or feel like i have to' lines are. it's... not fun. adding to that that if things ever came to the point where our marriage wouldn't work... that completely changes not only my life in a large way, but the kids, and m's. that is the fuckin scariest thing. sexuality discovery would be way less scary if i wasn't scared it will eventually negatively affect people in my life. i'm very much a "i will accept this thing that's not great for me and be quiet to keep the calm and happiness of those around me" in most cases. i don't like taking up space for myself. it's been a rough couple months.

anyway if i had to label i'd go with biromantic, asexual (with some ace labels i may or may not ever figure out)

getting older is a fuckin trip. you think you should know what you want and who you are but no one really knows. and life changes us and we discover more about who we are. for those newbies that are not even 20... your 20s and 30s are great. just... be prepared to shift and change and evolve and be okay with that.

anyway. new folks. i'm alex. i live in the middle of the us. i have two kids (boys, 8 and 5) that... i've been on tumblr longer than either of them have been alive. i work from home in (broadly) a data role within a corporation. i enjoy my work, its flexibility, and just data in general. give me numbers. i've been married for 14 years this june, and i'll be 34 in july.

i watch nwsl and uswnt for sports mostly. working on reading more novels again. obviously my tv obsessions are clear within minutes of looking at my blog. i talk parent stuff too sometimes, it's obviously a big part of who i am, but i'll leave their names and pics off the blog for their safety. i'll show my stupid face here though. sometimes i'll talk about seizures (i have them occasionally, unfortunately, and my brain isn't feeling great right now) and other medical stuff if it's bothering me because this place really is like a journal release for me. i hold some stuff back but yeah. i'll tag with 'personal nonsense' if you want to mute. sometimes i post and delete because i read it again later and decide no one needs to read that shit.

you're always welcome to say hi. i'm fairly harmless, but also keep walls up until i know you better.

uhhh i think that's it. mmmbye

[colorfulraven]

i am not saying you are entirely wrong, but i know of two other that make this one bigger media-wise that aren't homophobic:

1. pinoe's last game was a playoff game, so no one knew if it would be her last game or krieger's last game. it was gonna be one of them, and that was hyped and talked about often (disclaimer: talked about often in my soccer circles. i can't say if it was by sports broadcasters because i don't pay attention to them since they hardly talk about women's sports)

2. this season, the networks all have some kind of working relationship with the NWSL and so making a late change to broadcast on multiple was easier.

actually bonus 3: pinoe announced her last season well before the last game, and AM13 announced her retirement and pregnancy less than a week before her last game.

Is it just me or did Pinoe not get nearly this level of hype and promo for her retirememt? I know this was irregular because it was midseason so idk, can someone more seasoned lmk?

[rjinswife]

good riddance 😌

[hardtchill]

North Carolina declined to exercise the +1 on their homophobe. Angel City's homophobe is under contract until 2023 so Angel City needs to waive her, and I don't think they can do that right now per NWSL roster rules. Hopefully they will as soon as they can.

Well then they can step the fuck up and leave her off rosters until she finds a damn brain.

People kept saying during the season that ACFC couldn't do that (which i call bullshit on because teams can leave players off rosters for all kinds of reasons) but whatever. They can create a code of conduct for players if they didn't make one last year and if she can't be bothered to follow it she can sit at home and watch the game on tv.

I'm really just done with teams constantly protecting these assholes instead of for once actually setting proper consequences. She had an entire season to realize gay people won't kill her in her sleep, that's more time than she deserved.

[jxmieclayton]

I'd love your thoughts on Hinkle/ the hate the ncc gets bc of hinkle's homophobia. I'll admit, I hated on the courage for a while bc of Hinkle, bc as a part of the LGBT community, her comments hurt. I do love so many of the courage players (erceg is my fav). But at the end of the day, hinkle's views clearly dont represent the views of the entire team, so idk it just feels like the ncc hate bc of one person is a bit overboard.

(sry this took so long to get to this week ended up being incredibly more busy than I thought lol)

This is a rly good q!

My basic stance is that if u hate a team with 5 confirmed, out & proud gays (plus more that there are theories abt) on it because of one (1) homophobe, then that's a dumb reason. This team obviously doesn't share the same mindset as Hinkle and honestly none of us (the other ncc fans) like her either.

The hate ncc gets is v unwarranted tbh, if you hate them bc they're good and you think it's someone else's turn to win, good! That's a totally valid Sports(tm) mindset. If you hate them because there's a homophobe on the team then why don't you hate all the teams with racists?

Hot take maybe but the nwsl is a safe space for White Gays(tm). The fans perpetuate that.

If you have any other specific qs abt my mindset as an ncc fan or smth like thay I'd be happy to answer! I love my team a whole lot and I'm always happy to talk abt them!

[generalnewswonderfull]

NWSL suspends matches after accusations of sexual misconduct & harassment revealed

NWSL suspends matches after accusations of sexual misconduct & harassment revealed

The NWSL will not be playing the Oct. 1-2 slate of matches as players continue to voice concerns over allegations of sexual misconduct, inappropriate and homophobic comments and other questionable behavior detailed in a report by The Athletic which resulted in a coach’s termination later the same day. In the Sept. 30 story published in The Athletic, two players, Sinead Farrelly and Mana Shim,…

[miamarie1960]

Boring game so I thought I rank the NWSL teams in my “hate” list and why.

1. NCC - Paul Riley & Hinkle

2. Houston - Daly ( if Hinkle was to leave NCC the Dash would move right up there! ) And they play dirty. Did I mention Daly!

3. Utah - unpopular but I really don’t like A-Rod, never has. One redeeming quality; Christen Press!

4. Portland - They come off a bit arrogant somehow.

5. Reign - They are just very bland, love Pinoe but not a fan of Allie Long.

6. Washington - Used to like them when Ali & Ash played there but hated the homophobic owner & Gabarra. They did Ali dirty so they were higher up the ranking order but are dropping on my “hate-list” because of the younger players Lavelle, Sullivan etc.

7. Sky - the only thing to not like about Sky is Zerboni. One of the more reckless players I’ve seen. They can play an attractive soccer but seem often to be bit lost.

8. Chicago - Nothing to dislike except maybe that they seem to have lost their way somehow. When Press was traded.

9. Orlando - Nothing to hate! Love my Florida flops! 😁

[meret118]

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How a Woman [Mary Stone Ross] Disappears from the History Books.  The New York Times Magazine recently published a lengthy cover story on “The Unlikely Activists Who Took On Silicon Valley—And Won;” it’s about the battle to pass a privacy law in the country’s most populous state. It’s great and definitely worth reading, but it forgot something: the woman who helped win the battle.

Minnesota DFL Endorses Keith Ellison for Attorney General Despite Abuse Allegations

George Miller [Mad Max: fury Road] Called Cher After Her 40th Birthday to Tell Her She Was 'Too Old.'  So he said, ‘I just wanted to call and tell you that I don’t want you in my movie and Jack Nicholson and I think you’re too old and you’re not sexy.’ Good morning, 40!” ... “He didn’t want to hang up. He just wanted to tell me everything: ‘I hate the way you walk, I hate the way you talk, I don’t like the color of your hair, I don’t like your eyes.’” 

Pro women’s soccer team still doesn’t have working toilets 1 month after damning reports.  It’s been more than a month since reports first surfaced in The Equalizer and Once A Metro about the abysmal training, living, and traveling conditions endured by players at Sky Blue FC, a pro women’s soccer team based in New Jersey that competes in the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL).At the time, owners of the club — including majority owner and state Governor Phil Murphy (D-NJ), and minority owner Steven Tamares, CEO of retail giant Bed Bath & Beyond — acknowledged the conditions were “not acceptable,” and that the players “deserve better,” while insisting management must “improve” the situation. (Murphy has a daughter, after all! He cares!)Four weeks later and — spoiler alert! —nothing much has changed.

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul is trying, once again, to defund Planned Parenthood.

Allegations that Richard Nixon beat his wife, Pat Nixon, have circulated for decades without serious examination by the journalists who covered his presidency. It’s time to look more closely at what’s been hiding in plain view.

This Is How You Erase A Woman [Courtney Smith] From Her Own Story.  Courtney Smith has said, repeatedly, that she feared her ex-husband, Zach. She said he physically and emotionally abused her, in court documents, to police officers in two different states, to two reporters, including one interview on camera, and now to Ohio State investigators. All this became public knowledge because she went to court to get a restraining order; in her request, Courtney Smith wrote that Zach Smith stalked her, threatened her, and hacked her email. What Courtney Smith wanted was something every human being craves: to feel safe.

. . . On Wednesday night, Ohio State announced that Meyer will be suspended for the first three games of the football season. At the press conference that followed, viewers got what anyone with a tinfoil hat and internet access could have predicted: a lot of talk about football, even more talk about how all parties involved respect women, the bare minimum in punishment, and almost no mention of Courtney Smith. Her name wasn’t even mentioned by any of the men who took to the podium until one of the questions near the end when ESPN producer Greg Amante asked Meyer what he would say to Courtney Smith. Meyer gave this pithy answer: “Well, I have a message for everyone involved in this. I’m sorry we’re in this situation. And, um ... I’m just sorry we’re in this situation.” He couldn’t even be bothered to say her name.

[junker-town]

What on earth is U.S. Soccer doing with Jaelene Hinkle?

The USWNT’s best left back is also a vocal homophobe, and the team’s handling of the situation has been bizarre.

Jaelene Hinkle is probably the best left back available to the United States women’s national team. The USWNT currently has an injury crisis at fullback. Hinkle is also vocally homophobic and trying to make a team that has a gay coach, several queer players, and a lot of LGBT fans.

Last weekend, for the first time in over a year, Hinkle was called into the USWNT camp. She was only a part of the team for three days before U.S. Soccer announced that she would not be a part of the final roster for the Tournament of Nations. These two decisions — to call up a homophobic player who previously refused a call-up, then cut her just three days into camp — were strange. The former angered LGBT fans of the team, while the latter was just downright confusing.

When reached by phone on Monday, a U.S. Soccer spokesperson said that the decision to cut Hinkle was purely a soccer decision, adding that all roster decisions are entirely about performance and that there had been no personal issues between anyone during training sessions.

But it’s hard to make a true soccer case for Hinkle’s exclusion. And it’s even harder to justify the betrayal of LGBT fans over a three-day tryout for a player that USWNT manager Jill Ellis apparently doesn’t rate very highly.

How we got here

In June of 2017, Jaelene Hinkle withdrew from a United States women’s national team camp for “personal reasons.” That happened during LGBT Pride month, and the USWNT was set to wear jerseys with rainbow numbers to show support for the LGBT community.

This year, in an interview with The 700 Club, Hinkle confirmed that she withdrew from the squad because she felt that wearing the pride jersey would have conflicted with her religious beliefs. “I felt so convicted in my spirit that it wasn’t my job to wear this jersey,” Hinkle told the show. In her first game after the interview, Hinkle was booed by Portland Thorns fans every time she touched the ball.

Fans suspected Hinkle’s reasons for withdrawing from the squad even before her The 700 Club comments. Mere minutes after the United States Supreme Court’s ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, which required all states to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, Hinkle sent the following tweet:

This world is falling farther and farther away from God... All that can be done by believers is to continue to pray.

— Jaelene Hinkle (@JaeHinkle_15) June 26, 2015

Following her voluntary withdrawal from the USWNT squad, Hinkle was not called up again for over a year, despite performing well for the Courage. But after 2018’s pride month promotion, Hinkle was given another three-day shot to make the team, and was apparently unable to impress Ellis.

Is there a pure soccer case for Hinkle’s exclusion?

Fullback is a problem position for the USWNT at the moment. First choice starter Kelley O’Hara is out injured, Taylor Smith has been in shaky form for the Washington Spirit, and Sofia Huerta’s inability to get regular time at fullback for the Chicago Red Stars or Houston Dash appears to have jeopardized her chances of sticking with the national team. Veterans Meghan Klingenberg and Ali Krieger appear to have been frozen out permanently. Jill Ellis’ options aren’t great.

At least, the options aren’t great as long as Hinkle is unavailable due to her personal beliefs. But Hinkle’s beliefs didn’t prevent Ellis from bringing her into camp. And based on Ellis’ professed desire for attacking fullbacks who cover a ton of ground, there isn’t a better pure tactical fit available than Hinkle.

Over the past four years, Hinkle has been the starting left back for the Western New York Flash and North Carolina Courage. Her current club manager, Courage head coach Paul Riley, can’t understand why Ellis wouldn’t include Hinkle in her squad if she was willing to call up Hinkle in the first place. “She’s been the best left back in the league this year, of that there’s absolutely no question,” Riley tells SB Nation.

Andy Mead/ISI Photos

“She hasn’t had a bad game to be honest with you, I can’t recall a bad game all season,” Riley continues. “At this level, that’s unbelievable. The consistency is something she never really had, but this year she’s had it.”

Riley is obviously biased — he wants his players to find success at international level — but he’s got one hell of a track record when it comes to figuring out how to utilize players in the USWNT pool. The core of the team that is now the Courage won the National Women’s Soccer League title as the Flash in 2016, then finished runners-up with the league’s best record in their first year as the Courage in 2017. This season, the Courage have a 14-1-3 record and lead NWSL by 16 points. Seven current Courage players and two others who were traded from the club this offseason have been called up by the USWNT in the past year.

A lot of stats also suggest that Riley is right. Hinkle is the only fullback in the NWSL with four assists this season. The only other one with three — Seattle’s Steph Catley — plays her international soccer for Australia. Hinkle is beating out her club teammate, right back Merritt Mathias, as well as Chicago Red Stars left back Casey Short — the two players who play fullback for their clubs that made this USWNT squad — in interceptions per 90 minutes, successful tackle percentage, crossing accuracy, successful dribbles per 90 minutes, and final third passes per 90 minutes.

“She’s been the best left back in the league this year, of that there’s absolutely no question.” -Paul Riley

Distance covered stats aren’t available, but Hinkle has more touches in the box than Short or Matthias, so she’s doing well in that area, too. Riley believes the same: “She quite often runs the whole distance down the field and delivers the final ball to the forwards.”

Riley also doesn’t believe that Ellis was able to make a fair evaluation of Hinkle during the time she was in camp.

“You can’t look at a player over three days and make a decision on the player, not for me,” Riley says. “I think they need to be in camp for a couple of weeks to get a good feel for a player and whether they fit in or not, what their strengths and weaknesses are compared to the group’s strengths and weaknesses. I don’t think that can happen in three days.”

Hinkle’s call-up alienated many of the USWNT’s biggest fans

U.S. Soccer, between its history of fielding gay players and its desire to make money, would really like to sell some pride merch and appear supportive of the LGBT community.

But the USWNT either didn’t anticipate how much Hinkle’s call-up would hurt their LGBT fans, or they didn’t care. I reached out on Twitter to gay USWNT fans who purchased the team’s pride gear, and spoke to three of them about how Hinkle’s return to the USWNT made them feel.

“Betrayed, lied to, used. Like the USWNT was using pride only as something to make money and not that they actually cared about the community,” is how Zoe Auxier says she felt when she learned about Hinkle’s call-up. “I feel cheated out of accurate and positive representation, especially with how big of a platform the team has to make a positive impact for the LGBT community.”

Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images

“I would have been mad regardless of when it was, but the fact that the roster dropped 18 days after the end of Pride month was an added bit of hypocrisy,” says Kelly Trione. “It just shows that they’re full of crap, they may legally be a non-profit, but it’s all about money and they didn’t even try and pretend it wasn’t.”

That Hinkle expressed her beliefs on The 700 Club was a point of contention as well.

“She has never once acknowledged the humanity and struggle of LGBT people, and instead used a platform which actively demonizes the LGBT community,” Becca Homa says. “I’m most concerned with the message it sends to young queer fans and players within the U.S. youth system. They shouldn’t for one second feel any discomfort about who they are or question if they deserve the same respect.”

So what could U.S. Soccer have possibly been thinking?

U.S. Soccer would like us to believe that Hinkle was called up, played in camp for three days, and then sent home entirely for soccer reasons. If we take its statements at face value, we’re forced to conclude that Jill Ellis has a nonsensical method for evaluating fullbacks. Hinkle is the best American left back in NWSL by most empirical measures, and by the eyes of the club coach who has developed the most USWNT players during this World Cup cycle.

If Ellis simply doesn’t rate Hinkle highly enough to give her a legitimate shot in camp to beat out Short and some players who don’t usually play left back, then why was she called up in the first place? Why spit on your queer fans, who may now feel like you stole their money as part of a dirty trick, if Hinkle wasn’t really in the plans?

People at U.S. Soccer should have been well aware of the backlash they’d receive if Hinkle returned to the team. The way she makes queer fans feel has been clear for a while now. U.S. Soccer was seemingly willing to hurt their fans in that way, then not even follow through with putting Hinkle on the field. They couldn’t have handled this situation much worse.