Woke ideology has infested all levels of sports.
Athletes who refuse to go along with it have been singled out and punished.
Now a federal judge just laid the smackdown on this woke coach opening up potential for a massive lawsuit.
We have seen woke athletes in virtually every sport kneeling in protest of the national anthem.
But what often goes unseen is the pressure put on athletes to participate in these woke displays.
Benched for not taking a knee
Kiersten Hening, a midfielder for Virginia Tech, refused to kneel for the National Anthem.
As a result, her coach verbally berated her and then refused to allow her to play.
During her freshman year, Hening averaged 76 minutes of playing time.
She averaged nearly 88 minutes her sophomore year.
In 2020, following an incident in which she refused to kneel for the national anthem, her play time was cut significantly.
She only played for 29 minutes in the game immediately following the one in which she was pressured by the coach to “take a knee,” and only played for five minutes in the following game.
This led to her resigning from the team following the third game of the season.
Her First Amendment Rights were violated
Now she is suing the coach and the school on First Amendment grounds, and she appears to have a strong case.
And a federal judge has just approved the case to go forward.
U.S. District Judge Thomas T. Cullen wrote in his ruling, “Hening, who had been a major on-field contributor for two years prior to the 2020 season, also asserts that Adair removed her from the starting lineup for the next two games and drastically reduced her playing time in those games because she had engaged in this protected First Amendment activity. As a result, Hening resigned from the team after the third game of the season.”
Judge Cullen added that the facts of the case show that it appears that the coach retaliated against her based on personal political views, not sports.
The Judge added that Hening’s right to express her own personal political opinion is “the core constitutional principle . . . both clearly established and fundamental to a free society, and especially to an institution of higher education.”
For the radical Left, it’s not enough to simply silence conservatives.
They want to force them to engage in speech that they actively disagree with.
With all the anthem protests that have gone on in sports, you have to wonder how many athletes have been coerced into participating by not only their peers, but by coaches and other officials as well.
It is despicable that athletes who disagree with these protests and find them disrespectful are being pressured and threatened into participating.
For Henning to take a stand took real courage, for which her coach punished her for.
Hopefully she wins her case and more athletes are encouraged to stand up to this woke nonsense.
Deplorable Daily will keep you up-to-date on any developments to this ongoing story.
