Women’s soccer player says teammates still invited to her wedding despite op-ed being branded ‘transphobic’
National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) veteran Elizabeth Eddy said on Wednesday her teammates are still invited to her wedding despite their scathing rebuke of her following an op-ed she wrote calling for the organization to adopt clear gender standards.
The Angel City FC midfielder wrote in the New York Post, “NWSL must adopt a clear standard. One option is all players must be born with ovaries, as the FA requires. Another option is an SRY gene test, like those World Athletics and World Boxing implemented.”
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However, her teammate Sarah Gorden said her words had undertones that “came across as transphobic and racist.” Angelina Anderson said that, regardless of the column, the Angel City locker room “is a place for everyone.”
Eddy appeared on “Fox & Friends” on Fox News Channel and spoke about the backlash from them.
“Reasonable people can disagree on this topic, but there’s no need to go to bullying or name calling because it doesn’t set a good example for anyone,” Eddy said. “But furthermore, these teammates are my friends and I’ve known them for a very long time. In fact, they’ve been invited to my wedding and the invite still stands.
“They have said, ‘yes.’ I hope they come. I think it’s super important to offer an olive branch because, at the end of the day, we’re all humans, and getting on the same page and choosing to work together is very important.”
Eddy said it was “tricky” to say whether her teammates understood the potential danger of having a male play against females in women’s sports.
“I would say, in the professional sports world, it’s really tricky because speaking out is a really difficult thing to do because, think about it, your mindset as a pro athlete is, ‘I worked my entire life for this. I’ll do everything it takes, whatever the cost.’ And the flip side of that is, ‘Even if I stay silent. Even if I go along to get along. I’m willing to do that to play,’” she said.
“So, I think at the end of the day, a lot of my teammates, a lot of my peers do agree with what I’m trying to share. They want to play more than want to speak up, and I understand that. So, there’s a lot of fear involved because there’s a high, high cost for it.”
Eddy said she’s received support from players around the league after she released her op-ed.
“Overall, what I’ve come to realize, is that it’s an 80/20 issue,” she said. “Most of the country wants women’s sports to be for women. What I have noticed, again, a lot of my teammates are having a hard time speaking up if they believe this. But, bigger picture, the players need to decide and work together.
“And what I also realized is, a lot of players in the league have messaged me and reached out, saying they do agree but they’re fearful to speak up. So, to your point, it’s just a really difficult scenario for the people that are in it. But the people on the outside, the overwhelming majority, has been supportive of this whole concept.”
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