I mean, there have been a number of recent cheerleader lawsuits. This one seems a bit weirder and less straightforward than the pay discrimination types that have been more prevalent.

 

Even our cheerleaders are bullies!!!

 

#MeToo

 

Was she going around blurting out that she's a virgin? I think she probably has a screw loose. lol

 

She is alleging that she was fired for being a Christian and a virgin, which translates to me that she never shut up about being a Christian and a virgin. To some people, it's discrimination if they can't push their ideas. She's a part of the largest religious group globally and in America. It's not discrimination if they don't make a special place for you to be religious. She even complained about having to take sexy photos as a cheerleader on WSVN.

This is the biggest eye roll story of the year so far in the NFL. Expect her to be on Hannity within the week.

 

Not only that, but she was told repeatedly to stop talking about being a virgin by her peers and bosses- she was rubbing it in everyone's face how pure and special she was (implying that others were dirty and not special at all). Religious freedom does not include discriminating against others and it sounds like she just couldn't get that through her head.

 

What makes it even more ridiculous to me is that they told her to stop talking about it, which means they were fine with her being a Christian virgin, just not with her constantly lording it over everyone. If they weren't fine with her being those things, they would have just fired her.

 

Exactly- it's not about the virginity or the religion at all.

For instance, if I started every post here with, "Hey guys, I love tuna fish! Everyone should eat tuna. You don't know what you're missing out on because tuna is so healthy! Tuna, tuna, tuna..." People wouldn't listen to me for very long and it certainly does not mean they're discriminating against tuna fish. This woman was just too hung up on herself to realize that.

PS- I'm not a huge tuna fan....it was just the first thing that came to mind. =)

 

Love how all of you are making these ludicrous statements about this cheerleader without citing what she claimed happened.

She was on The Story with Martha Mccallum last night. Did any of you watch or are you making assumptions based on your own bias?

 

Hand-wringing is bad for your joints. I'm sure you feel enlightened, having heard the side of the person filing the claim, but we're just saying what we think happened. The fact is, if her BEING those things were an issue, they wouldn't have even told her to stop talking about it.

Based on the claims in her filing, this seems like actual nothing:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/spor...acd97698cef_story.html?utm_term=.318f835eeddd

 

She was a 3 year veteran so she evidently hadn't been going on about it the whole time.
Amazing how people side against her.

Personally, the fact that most cheerleaders aren't even paid for their work in the league - especially as ludicrously wealthy as it is - is a shame on the league. This would just add further shame in that arena.

Her story doesn't surprise me. It would fit with the sort of environment seen in similar areas like beauty pageants etc. Saying something like that would make you stand out as different, and that's not environment to stick out.

The hypocrisy, if her story is true, is frustrating. Hope it gets sorted out.

And it's not just the Dolphins...

Wider context:

"This week, the New York Times quoted several former cheerleaders, both with attribution and anonymously, who said they faced harassment as NFL cheerleaders, including a former Redskins cheerleader who said the team sold an appearance where cheerleaders showed up at a residence to do nothing but hang out with men drinking beer and watching football."

"Last month, former New Orleans Saints cheerleader Bailey Davis filed an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint claiming the Saints discriminated against her on the basis of gender when they fired her over an Instagram post and rumors she had been at the same party as a player. Sara Blackwell, the Florida lawyer representing Davis, is also representing Ware."

...

"Blackwell said she included the league in the complaint because she believes it has the most power in how cheerleaders should be treated moving forward.

“What we all really want is for the NFL to pay attention,” Blackwell said. “We want them to have us over and say, ‘Where are we going wrong, and how can we fix it?’ As an employment lawyer, it wouldn’t cost them a penny to make this a successful and wonderful program, where people could be proud and not be harassed and not be discriminated against.”"

 

If she was let go she should be thankful and pursue other passions... cheerleading is pretty much a dead end.

Seems to me like she is after money. Whatever.

 

It better be Dolphin safe tuna you busturd!

 

Maybe she need someone to tell her what her Tuna fish tastes like

 

I think the level of criticism being brought against her just in this thread, is revealing enough.

 

Don't fire her!!!

We need her for the sacrifice...

 

You don't agree with me? That hurts my feelings! I'm suing you, the Dolphins and the NFL for 20 trillion dollars (and season tickets)!

That's essentially what she's saying here so I might as well too.

 

Christians have historically been oppressed in America you see. We're perpetuating the historical maligning of such a small oppressed group of people.

 

You guys really didn't read the articles did you?

Did you miss the bit about league-wide poor treatment of cheerleaders?

In the case of Miss Ware here in Miami, she ended up losing her position in a role she evidently loved, and she feels forced out. She's allowed to raise that issue.

Or isn't she?

 

The NFL has gotten in trouble because they have had legitimate labor disputes. Cheerleaders have not been treated like real employees, they haven't been paid, and they've been subjected to bad working conditions. Stop trying to conflate that issue with some weirdo who couldn't stop talking about her (lack of) sex life.

I'd hazard a guess that other groups who claim discrimination don't get nearly as much sympathy from you as this person who is representative of 70% of America.

 

Gentlemen.... this thread is insulting to anyone who has read the Constitution (those nasty words about freedom of speech AND freedom of religion come to mind) but in addition, I am insulted because some of the thoughts here are denying someone the right to espouse an idea with which you disagree. Contumely and vitriol is patently NOT the way to have a discussion.

This young lady is being attacked for not "following the crowd" and that has been turned into her being pushy. That is an assumption at best, and one which is usually the best defense by those who wish not to be reminded that there are other standards of conduct present in this world to which some people have responded out of faith and belief and others decry for whatever reasons suits their needs - usually to assuage their feelings about not following the same standards. So those who cannot or will not follow them decry those who do!!!! That is like punishing someone for making good grades in school because others either cannot do so or will not take the time to do so.

Further, as a Christian the assumptions on this thread about what Christians are and do is also way off line and based on either the experiences of a few (there are some "Christians" with whom I would not associate in public, in private, or in worship) or on the assumptions which flow around (because everybody knows.........) In my experience those type of "Christians" are in the vast minority. The words I see here seem to be more the prejudices of those who do not seem willing to actually determine what Christianity is.
It is NOT about someone being pushy. Christ was never pushy about believing. He was pushy about sin, about helping your neighbor, or even your enemy - but that is a different matter and beyond this conversation at present. The assumptions about her being pushy seem to be ill-formed at best - unless the prevailing opinion is that anyone discussing anything about faith is being pushy, or anyone who decides not follow the crowd is being pushy, or anyone who needs more than an "everybody else is doing it" reason to abandon one's own choices as far as lifestyle goes is being pushy.

From personal history - I have had to counsel with girls who were being attacked verbally in high school because they were still virgins - by other girls - and I am talking about freshman year 13-14 year old girls. And this was 25 years ago. When did virginity, something which was for centuries held to be worthy and a proof of honor and virtue become an item to be attacked and pilloried? How did being a virgin become deplorable? How far down the ladder do we have to descend before we become nothing more than hairless primates simply grunting and scratching while waiting to fill our own basest desires?

Last Point: If your daughter, should you have one, decide to follow the same course - would you support her?

 

Pretty sure bad working conditions is exactly the point here.

"Weirdo." Straight in with the ad hominem I see.
"Couldn't stop talking". She was a three year vet, so what, she managed two years of not talking about it and then decided to go nuts? Seems less likely than the account of it being brought up in a group setting and her being unable to avoid the subject because everyone was being asked to pitch in. Not exactly a rare event. The question on this point is how does she get treated afterwards.

More ad hominem. Nice.

 

Both of my daughters have done some incredibly stupid things and yes, of course I support them regardless. But at the same time, I've also been quick to punish them for talking down to others or treating anyone not as equals. You bring up the purity represented in Christianity and we should all strive to be better people, but at the same time we are also supposed to be humble, thankful and kind.

If you look in the New Testament, Jesus wasn't standing in fancy synagogues preaching to the rich...he was out on the streets in the brothels, the bars, and the jails where the worst of humanity called home. And he definitely wasn't saying, "Look how much better I am than you because I'm this or that..." In fact, the Bible continually said that he did the exact opposite.

By the cheerleader's own words, she was asked multiple times to stop bragging about her virginity. Other cheerleaders mentioned being judged and shamed by her frequently. And I'm sorry, I just don't by into the "I'm a Christian so I'm better than you" crap attitude that some people have...that goes against everything our religion stands for. There's no forgiveness for those who do not forgive.

When I said the cheerleader was ugly, I wasn't talking about her face or her body...I was talking about her stuck up attitude. And I personally take offense when people brag about how religious they are and then condemn others; I do not and will not ever support my daughters when they make that choice.

 

You can try to paint with an overly broad brush if you want, but that's disingenuous. The thrust of the issue in previous cases is that cheerleaders aren't being treated like actual team employees. This isn't anything like those cases. Stealing from a cash register as an employee vs. cooking the books as an accountant are two ways to accomplish theft, but they're not in the same stratosphere implication-wise. It would be silly to say that both are part of the same trend just because they're related to theft.

Please use these terms correctly. An ad hominem is where I dismiss YOUR argument by simply insulting YOU. I called her a weirdo and that wasn't my response to her argument. Besides, you can insult someone and address their point, and you're not committing an ad hominem fallacy. Even if I were insulting you, as long as I addressed your point as well, that's just being rude, not fallacious.

She was told in a single interview that she shouldn't talk about being a virgin or Christian at work. The Dolphins didn't fire her for it. Her entire case is that she feels she was treated unfairly over her beliefs. Let's go over the specific instances she cited in her complaint:

Six months after that specific instance, she was called in to her annual review and the team spoke to her about it.

Here, she is indicating that she spoke about it more than once. By her telling, it was only when she was asked, but who even knows if that's true? She very possibly went into religious tirades/talked down to the other cheerleaders when the conversation got to that point.

Here is the most idiotic part of the complaint. She was going through her annual review process and the criticism was her talking about her virginity et. al., and as part of her review, they asked her to wear a swimsuit as she was up for contract renewal. If you're not ready to be an adult in a performance review/contract negotiation, what are you doing there? She is literally saying here that her employer gave her a less than stellar review that she didn't like, that made her emotional (never indicates she told anyone), and she went through emotional struggles because she had to continue her performance review. Part of her job is to wear swimsuits. It makes sense that she would be asked to wear one when her employer is trying to determine if she should be renewed. Her own quote says that:

It's not like some lecherous old pervert manager made her change into a swimsuit for their personal amusement.

I have heard "make love to the camera" in so many different instances with models that the judge should laugh at this point of the case. You also don't need to lose your virginity to play with balls. It's not like they made her sit on a football and pretend like it was a hog.

"Your swimsuit straps aren't straight, let me fix them"

They took her religious stuff off of the team's social media pages. They also didn't promote her religious posts on her personal page. Why should the team promote her religious posts? Maybe an NFL player said God made him tackle harder, that's at least team related.

Wow, guy who doesn't know what an ad hominem is, thanks for pointing out two false examples. I'm not insulting you. I'm suggesting that you're far more receptive to Christian claims of persecution and discrimination than other groups' claims. I'm saying that your inclination is to rally behind Christians. That's your prerogative. I view this as a privileged class (Christians) reacting to removal of their special position in society as discrimination rather than equalization.

I sincerely hope you're willing to believe Kaepernick is kneeling for real discrimination. There's actual shootings and deaths happening so if this registers as discrimination to you, then you should find it abhorrent that Eric Reid hasn't been hired specifically because he kneeled.

 

This is going to come off as harsh, it's not intended as such:

Should players be kneeling?

Please don't pontificate to me about what my 'assumptions' are based on. I was raised Christian, my family is Christian, my country is 96% Christian. I deal with them enough to not need you to explain Christians to me.

I also like how you brought gave a mini-sermon, then said this isn't the place for it, and if I respond in theological manner, I'll likely get censured for it. You weren't there to definitively say that she wasn't being pushy. I said that's how it looks to me. You have come into the thread, told us how it actually went with no additional evidence, and we're just meant to accept your view based on nothing more than what we've presented? Be fair here man.

 

Here's an actual cheerleader discussing what actually happened:

https://www.local10.com/sports/nfl/...scriminated-against-because-she-was-christian

This is how it almost always goes. A Christian gets their special platform removed and all of a sudden they're being persecuted. Just be fair. I've tried to respond directly to her actual legal filings and here we have a former fellow-cheerleader saying that she's changing the story. She was out and out preaching in a weekly sermon for the team essentially, then the team asked her to relax so as to be fair to non-Christians. Based on someone who was in the building, this is a frivolous lawsuit because she couldn't have free reign to proselytize in their building.