Atlanta United "showing our Pride" Really??

Wow. I was hoping to never see something like this on this forum. 

It's always so funny to me that supporting players during pride month is seen as "pushing an agenda", but those same players growing up watching straight Disney princesses and superheroes isn't?

Kids can be gay. It's a fact. It's ignorant to think otherwise. 

Latest studies suggest 1 in 6 members of Gen Z identify as a part of the LGBTQ+ community. I'm sure numbers will continue to rise with younger generations. So, there's a good chance (depending on how large your team is) there are at least 3 children that are gay. Even if there is only one child, they deserve the same support and respect as their straight peers. Sometimes that support comes in the form of a rainbow jersey. People need to get over it. 

I encourage you to ask your kid, as objectively as possible, if they care about the jersey being rainbow. 99% of 10-11 yr olds don't care and just want to show off the signed jersey.

ATL UTD is not concerned about losing your money. I was on the fence about sending my kid to RDS, but I think I'll send her and her cousin and buy a jersey just to cancel out anything they may lose from you. Look at that, we're just in time for their last eval session!

The USMNT are doing the same thing. I think it is okay to treat everyone with respect.

By the way, whenever I see stuff like this I picture Kevin Spacey's neighbor in American Beauty hunched over a keyboard.

I love posts like these on the internet...At least own your bigotry and don't create a new account when you post something like this so we all know who we're dealing with.

Kids learn this behavior from their parents and peers as they get older, who likely learned it from their parents. There was an incident this season on a boys team where one young boy said to another ON THEIR SAME TEAM something racially derogatory(I won't even repeat it because it's not the point). Hell, the kid may not even have known what they said was racist, but that's how it's learned. There's no place for any of that on the field, let alone in the world, so if AU wants to promote unity then let them. Our kids need to see more of that and less hatred from the ones raising them. When will the thoughts of being different start becoming normal and not 'woke' or politically charged?

It's really hard to take someone seriously named "comeonref69" who created an account just to post a thinly vieled homophobic rant but I'll indulge you.

Answer me this- how does the color of someone's skin, a gay couple or who a person loves impact your life on a daily basis? If your neighbors were a same sex couple how would that negatively impact your life? Pretend I'm dumb and explain it to me in the most remedial way possible.

The country is in the mess its in because people are less tolerant of other people's beliefs/lifestyle. Do you think having a pride jersey is going to negatively impact your child? Maybe use it as a teachable moment for your child, isn't that what we are supposed to do as parents?

Kids are getting killed in schools and you're worried about a pride jersey??? Maybe if these 18 year olds with AR-15's had better parenting/examples all of those families who lost their children could watch their children grow up and pursue their dreams.

I see pictures of A2 apologists with their entire family holding AR-15's including their toddlers, I would be far worried about that type of "grooming" vs allowing my child to understand that people are different and shouldn't be discriminated against because of who they choose to love.

👏👏👏Thank you Soccerfan30 & all the other commenters for saying all the things that needed to be said to the Original Poster & his myopic, homophobic post & subsequent lame whataboutism retort…

Our world is better, stronger & kinder when we accept & welcome diversity in all forms.

Wish I had a great Ted Lasso quote to end on…

God. I hate that I keep giving you the response you so desperately want, but I have the time today. 

You continue to amaze me. Your original post and the one you just made are drowning in judgement, but the responses are the issue? 

To answer your question: Pride is about accepting others, not excluding them or putting one above the other. Saying to people of a certain demographic "Hey look, you're welcome here." If MLS decided to use a cross or bible as an award it would be exclusionary. There are so many religions in the world and to choose a bible would essentially be saying "We think this religion is the most important". If MLS used every religious and scientific (for atheists) symbol as an award, I would have no issue. I refuse to address the question about the gun logo because I think it's just a little too out of touch with the current political climate to be given a response. 

If my kid loses her spot to a trans player, her best just wasn't good enough, was it? It sucks, but we move on to literally ANY of the other 1500 colleges that have women's soccer. At the very least I can say to my daughter that the kid who took the spot had to have every single thing fall into place for her to even get a shot at a spot on the team. Good on her for making it. 

The biggest issue I have with this entire debate is it's completely based on religion and goes no further than that. Not every American is a Christian. MLS will never and should never adhere to a certain religious group's standards for "sin" over another.  

Everything else you said was fine, and I said I wasn't going to get into this, but I have to address this.  Biological males have no business in Girls sports whether they identify as female or not.  You aren't in the majority on your thoughts here.  Most people just won't tell you what they think on the topic because of cancel culture.  It is not fair to biological women to put male athletes in girls sports leagues.  

The science shows that even on hormone suppression therapy that the advantage a male gets due to going through puberty with male hormones do not go away with hormone suppression therapy later in life no matter how long you are on such therapy.  Its the inconvenient scientific fact that the trans crowd don't want to admit or talk about.

I don't know what the solution is to the trans people in sports issue.  I would say create an open class where both sexes can compete would be the obvious answer but also has its issues as well.  I just know female athletes that this has affected, and if one is truly for women's rights and equality allowing biological males in their sporting leagues is not equality at all.

I got no issue with people calling themselves whatever they want to, but to infringe on women's sports is unfair to women.

Completely agree.  I don't really care that Atlanta United wears pride shirts - I don't think it's pushing a particular lifestyle, but instead showing that LGBTQ (or whatever the current acronym is) people are welcome at their games and trying to be as inclusive as possible to all people.  Live and let live, I say.  But transgender athletes competing in women's sports?  Hard no for me.  I mean, if we're accepting that transgender women can compete in female sports, why do we even bother having separate competitions, teams, etc. for men & women?  

I'm just shocked that there's not more outrage from the female sporting community in general over this issue.  I know there were a few female swimmers who voiced their displeasure with the transgender woman who recently won some NCAA titles in female events but can't believe it wasn't more widespread.  

First, I should say I truly don't care if I'm in the majority on anything I think. I should also say that my views did not come to me in the form of an epiphany. I had to learn a lot. Much of what I have learned, I learned from my kids and their friends. So I can understand being reluctant or thinking it's unfair. That's why I suggested that the OP asks the question as objectively as possible to their kid "Do you really care?"

Trans women are women. At least in my view. So to say that somehow things aren't equal when women play with women doesn't make any sense.

In GA for example 0.8% of the adult population identifies as trans. An even smaller number of that population plays soccer. The percentage shrinks again when you consider how very few people actually have the ability to play soccer in college (that applies to my kids as well). It shrinks again when you take into consideration that some trans people decide to not go through hormone therapy and stay on the side of soccer that aligns with their biological sex (e.g. Quinn and Yokoyama). The likelihood that this would ever directly affect my kids lessens again when you add in college preferences, and location of their college of choices.

MTF trans women need to complete at least 1 year of hormone therapy before they are able to compete in the NCAA on the women's side and even then, it's up to the coaches.

So when I said every single thing needs to fall into place for this to even be a possibility, I meant it. This hypothetical player who's out to take my daughter's spot would need to time things just right, and find the right school, and somehow avoid being a part of the rising suicide rate among trans teens.

If somehow everything fell into place, I can't say the kid doesn't deserve it more than mine, they probably do. On every team there's always going to be a player who runs faster, pushes harder, is all around a better athlete. Sometimes (very few times) that player happens to be trans.

This idea that a bunch of men are going to put on wigs and claim to be transgender just to be able to play college or pro sports is irrational and based in fear. Not to mention you need a diagnosis. There are around 37 athletes who are openly trans at the professional and collegiate levels out of the 75 million people in the U.S. who play sports. Trans athletes are a "hot topic", but they're not exactly taking the sports world by storm.

My kids don't care how their teammates identify, they just want to play. As a parent it's my job to get them to practices, games, get along well with their coaches and the refs, take them to ID camps, tournaments, and showcases on time and with a clean uniform.

Other than that it's really none of my business what players do off the field. The NCAA will make decisions they feel are best for their athletes and I'll make sure my kids are in compliance when it comes time for college.

Neither of my daughters are white. They weren't even represented on the USWNT until the mid 80s. Who am I to try to stand in the way of another parent looking for the same validation for their child?

Is it ok to not be sure what we think? It seems that too often people pick a side on an issue, and then refuse to change their mind. I'm not sure... If it's soccer or another team sport, it seems ok. But in a sport like swimming or track, idk, it does seem unfair to biological born females. Even if there are not that many trans athletes. Even one, who breaks a record, can have an effect on many.

The NCAA changed its policy in 2022 to not only must a trans athlete have hormone therapy for a year but must also comply with the requirements set by the Olympic committee for each sport of specific testosterone levels. It is a very strict policy that prevents abuse.

The legitimate concern that people have is the US Department of Education announcing in April 2022 that it will rewrite Title IX rules to state “Discrimination on the basis of sex includes discrimination on the basis of sex stereotypes, sex-related characteristics (including intersex traits), pregnancy or related conditions, sexual orientation, and gender identity.” That means that instead of having scientific requirements, which are currently present in the NCAA rules, it will be left to however a person choses to identify. Therefore, if the rule is passed and implemented as a condition of federal funding, if a male decides to identify as a female, he will be able to play women's sports at the college level.

And to those who would say that it is an irrational concern based on fear, I would point to two things: (1) human nature to take advantage of situations to benefit themselves; (2) reverse discrimination lawsuits.  When claims started for racial and sexual discrimination, no one anticipated that it would morph into what it has become with claims of reverse discrimination for favoring a protected class.  If there is a loophole, people will take advantage of it to the detriment of women's sports.

To understand the difference between men and women in soccer, remember that the U15 FC Dallas DA team beat the US Women's National Team 5-2 in 2017.

This might be a bit old fashioned, but maybe it should be the job of parents to decide when and how to discuss matters of sexuality with their children. It seems that everything, especially this month, revolves around sexuality. I was a teacher. Teachers used to complain that it was not their responsibility to raise students. Now we hear stories about what is being taught to children without parents knowing.

Transexual kids is also a rather new issue. I am not going to go into the morality of that issue but when it comes to competitive advantage I have a pretty simple question. We always hear about male to female transexuals excelling in female competition. How come we never hear about female to male transexuals excelling in male competition? Can you find one?