The National Women’s Soccer League doesn’t have Christian player Jaelene Daniels to kick around anymore. The North Carolina Courage this week declined to bring her back for the 2023 season, and the LGBTQIA mob is gloating over the potential end of the Christian athlete’s U.S. pro soccer career. Daniels has been a punching bag for refusing to celebrate team and league pride events.
Outsports and rainbow enthusiasts celebrated the Courage announcement on Daniels, who sat out a match this season that was saturated in celebration of the lesbian lifestyle.
Daniels, a professing Christian who opposes same-sex marriage, once said, "This world is falling farther and farther away from God ... All that can be done by believers is to continue to pray." For that, she’s been booed by women’s pro soccer fans. On July 29, she declined to wear a rainbow-themed jersey or play in the Courage's "Pride Night" match. The team responded, "While we're disappointed with her choice, we respect her right to make that decision for herself".
That’s more respect than she got from Cyd Zeigler, who pushes the rainbow agenda for the Outsports blog. He claims the Courage “got a mountain of pushback from many fans” after Daniels previously expressed anti-LGBT views. Likewise, her previous presence on the U.S. national team generated angst from a team steeped in lesbian culture. Zeigler accused Daniels of biting the hand that fed her, of failing to demonstrate Christian love and acceptance:
Unfortunately, she continued to assert herself as a beacon for anti-LGBT sentiment and rhetoric. In refusing to simply wear a rainbow jersey, she rejected the Christ-loving message that ‘All are welcome,’ making clear that her anti-LGBT sentiments go far deeper than a few words in the Bible.
Courage attendance was down this season, and guess who Zeigler blames for that? You get two guesses, and the first one doesn’t count.
Zeigler speculated that “Various fans” did not purchase season tickets this season, because of Daniels’ presence on the team. In the wake of the team declining to bring her back next season, some fans will return to Courage games, Zeigler asserted. Surely the team’s mediocre 9-8-5 record had nothing to do with the decline in attendance.
“When Daniels was signed by the Courage, I was contacted by various women’s soccer fans who said that anyone harboring any anti-LGBT feelings whatsoever have no place in women’s soccer,” Zeigler continued. “It wasn’t just about actions — even anti-LGBT thoughts needed to be pushed out of the sport. They told me that the sport was creating a different kind of environment, and anyone holding or expressing any different views simply don’t belong in the sport. That perspective has now passed its latest test, with Daniels sent packing.”
That’s pro women’s soccer to a tee. It’s a lesbian-dominated culture, and anyone who doesn’t jump up and down with glee for all things LGBT is a pariah.
Daniels isn’t the first woman bounced out of this league for not genuflecting to league culture. Sydney Nasello was taken by the Portland Thorns in the 2022 draft, then released after the team learned she had tweeted opposition to male transgenders competing in women’s sports.
Daniels’ “next move — if she wants to continue to play soccer — may need to be overseas,” Zeigler suggested. “Though her anti-LGBT actions will be a lot harder to explain away than Nasello’s.”
The women’s pro soccer crowd is disgustingly short on tolerance. No one’s free to disagree with the prevailing climate. It’s one way or the highway.
