U.S. soccer player Jaelene Hinkle said in a recently released interview that she decided not to play for the U.S. women’s national team last year over the team’s LGBTQ Pride jersey.
Hinkle told the 700 Club that her Christian beliefs stopped her from wearing the jersey.
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“I just felt so convicted in my spirit that it wasn’t my job to wear this jersey,” Hinkle said in the interview, which was conducted last June but released on Wednesday.
“I gave myself three days to just seek and pray and determine he [God] was asking me to do in this situation,” she continued.
“I’m essentially giving up the one dream little girls dream about their entire life, and that I’m saying no to. It was very disappointing,” she said.
Hinkle, who plays for the North Carolina Courage of the National Women’s Soccer League, did not originally give a reason for passing on playing with the team last year.
She has not been called to play on the national team since her decision last year.
Various high-profile openly gay and bisexual individuals have played on the U.S. Women’s National Team, including Olympic gold medalist Abby Wambach.