National Women's Soccer League club splits after City of Angels soccer star Elizabeth Eddy has called on the league to “adopt gender standards” to protect women's sports.
Eddie wrote column in New York Post where she asked the question, “How do we preserve women’s rights and competitive fairness while promoting meaningful inclusion?”
“Fairness and inclusion are core American values. Reasonable people can disagree about where to draw the line, but avoiding the conversation entirely by excluding diverse viewpoints does not serve us. In fact, we owe it to current and future female athletes to address this issue,” she wrote. “The NWSL needs to adopt a clear standard. One option is for all players to be born with ovaries, as required by the FA. Another option is the SRY gene test, similar to those implemented in World Athletics and World Boxing.”
Eddie's teammates Sarah Gorden and Angelina Anderson were offended by her proposal to protect women's sports from the invasion of men who identify as transgender, Fox News reported.
“This article does not speak well for this team in this locker room. I've had a lot of conversations with my teammates over the last few days and the article has hurt and hurt them and they are disgusted by some of the things that were said in the article and it's very important for me to say that,” Gorden said in response Friday.
“We disagree with what is written for a variety of reasons, but in most cases the subtext is transphobic and racist. The article calls for genetic testing of certain players, and the headline includes a photo of an African player,” she continued. “This is very harmful and to me it is inherently racist because singling out this community based on how they look or are different is an absolute problem. As a mixed woman from a black family, I am devastated by the implications of this article.”
Anderson talked about how the team and Los Angeles are “rooted in inclusivity.”
“Personally, when I think of Los Angeles and the City of Angels, I think of a place that was founded on inclusivity and love for all people – that's what our locker room is, that's what our staff is, that's what our fans are. The City of Angels is a place for everyone. It always will be. It's been that way from the beginning, it will always be that way. Period,” she said.
“I think there's an element of timing in this situation where it feels like another really big test that we have to go through as a team on top of an already very difficult year,” she continued. “And this is definitely not the note that we as a group want to end on and so I just want everyone to know that we are doing everything we can in the locker room to maintain respect and belonging for this team and we look forward to ending the season on as positive a note as possible.”
NWSL said The Athletic in response to Eddie's column that the league “We are committed to working directly with the NWSL Players Association on any changes to our league’s policies.”
