{"id":1776135,"date":"2022-12-15T08:01:39","date_gmt":"2022-12-15T13:01:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1776135"},"modified":"2022-12-15T10:04:57","modified_gmt":"2022-12-15T15:04:57","slug":"virginia-tech-soccer-player-who-was-benched-for-refusing-to-kneel-during-national-anthem-sees-lawsuit-move-forward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/virginia-tech-soccer-player-who-was-benched-for-refusing-to-kneel-during-national-anthem-sees-lawsuit-move-forward\/","title":{"rendered":"Virginia Tech Soccer Player Who Was Benched for Refusing to Kneel During National Anthem Sees Lawsuit Move Forward"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">36<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fvirginia-tech-soccer-player-who-was-benched-for-refusing-to-kneel-during-national-anthem-sees-lawsuit-move-forward%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1776135&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Former Virginia Tech Hokies soccer player Kiersten Hening now has her opportunity to sue the university after she was allegedly benched for refusing to take a knee as other woke athletes were during the playing of the National Anthem.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_7698\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7698\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-7698\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Screen-Shot-2022-12-13-at-3.18.16-PM-e1670962784108.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"750\" height=\"402\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Screen-Shot-2022-12-13-at-3.18.16-PM-e1670962784108.png 750w, https:\/\/www.boundingintosports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Screen-Shot-2022-12-13-at-3.18.16-PM-e1670962784108-300x161.png 300w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Screen-Shot-2022-12-13-at-3.18.16-PM-e1670962784108-480x256-1.png 480w\"   style=\"display:none\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-7698\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Virginia Tech Women\u2019s Soccer versus South Carolina via Chad C. Johnson YouTube<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>U.S. District Judge Thomas T. Cullen gave the approval for the lawsuit to go forward since Hening claimed that her freedom of speech protected by the First Amendment was violated after her coach, Charles Adair, allegedly benched Hening since she refused to join in the team\u2019s \u201cunity statement\u201d of kneeling during the National Anthem during a game in 2020.<\/p>\n<p>Hening filed a lawsuit against Virginia Tech and Coach Adair in 2021 but Virginia Tech immediately attempted to file a motion to have the suit tossed. The athlete stated that when she refused to take part in the kneeling, which at the time was a virtue signal statement indicating public support for the Black Lives Matter movement, Adair began to insult and demean her as well as limiting her time to play during matches.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_7701\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7701\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-7701\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Chugger-Adair.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1221\" height=\"619\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Chugger-Adair.png 1221w, https:\/\/www.boundingintosports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Chugger-Adair-300x152.png 300w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Chugger-Adair-768x389-1.png 768w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Chugger-Adair-750x380-1.png 750w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Chugger-Adair-1200x608-1.png 1200w\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-7701\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Charles \u201cChugger\u201d Adair via Virginia Tech Athletics YouTube<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>RELATED:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.boundingintosports.com\/2022\/06\/english-soccer-players-booed-in-hungary-for-kneeling-in-support-of-black-lives-matter\/\">English Soccer Players Booed In Hungary For Kneeling In Support Of Black Lives Matter<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/23439942-hening-v-adair-opinion-wdvadc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">According to Judge Cullen<\/a>, \u201cHening, 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 or 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs a freshman,\u201d he said in his memorandum, \u201cHening averaged 76 minutes of playing time; as a sophomore, nearly 88. But during the Clemson game [the next game after the kneeling incident], Hening only played 29 minutes, and, at the UNC game, just 5.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_7696\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7696\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-7696\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Screen-Shot-2022-12-13-at-3.13.56-PM.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"850\" height=\"946\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Screen-Shot-2022-12-13-at-3.13.56-PM.png 850w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Screen-Shot-2022-12-13-at-3.13.56-PM-270x300-1.png 270w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Screen-Shot-2022-12-13-at-3.13.56-PM-768x855-1.png 768w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Screen-Shot-2022-12-13-at-3.13.56-PM-750x835-1.png 750w\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-7696\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">United States Attorney Thomas T. Cullen Photo Credit: United States Attorney\u2019s Office, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The judge also stated that the facts in this particular case firmly show that the coach singled out Hening specifically because of her political views, not because of her ability as an athlete.<\/p>\n<p>He then declared, \u201cFor these reasons, the court will deny Adair\u2019s motion for summary judgment, and this matter will proceed to trial.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>What are your thoughts? Do you agree with Hening that she was intentionally ostracized because of her refusal to bend the knee? Let us know in the comments below.<\/p>\n<p><strong>NEXT:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.boundingintosports.com\/2022\/11\/usmnt-coach-gregg-berhalter-says-hes-only-a-soccer-coach-in-response-to-political-questions-ahead-of-world-cup-match-against-iran-has-no-problem-pushing-lgbtq-and-anti-second-amendment-politic\/\">USMNT Coach Gregg Berhalter Says He\u2019s Only \u201cA Soccer Coach\u201d In Response To Political Questions Ahead Of World Cup Match Against Iran, Has No Problem Pushing LGBTQ+ And Anti-Second Amendment Politics<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former Virginia Tech Hokies soccer player Kiersten Hening now has her opportunity to sue the university after she was allegedly benched for refusing to take a knee as other woke<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1776138,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[547],"tags":[6116,9279,5458,9280,4585,4107,4016,7397,3819,7478,4989,5468],"class_list":["post-1776135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-bongino-report","tag-anthem","tag-benched","tag-bongino","tag-kneel","tag-lawsuit","tag-national","tag-player","tag-refusing","tag-report","tag-soccer","tag-tech","tag-virginia"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1776135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1776135"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1776135\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1776138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1776135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1776135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1776135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}