A former Miami Dolphins cheerleader has filed a complaint alleging religious and gender discrimination by the cheerleading team and the National Football League.
Kristan Ware, a Dolphins cheerleader for three seasons beginning in 2014, claims she was held to “different standards than the male football players” regarding her outward expression of her Christian faith.
Ware said she felt compelled to quit a couple of weeks prior to the end of her contract in spring 2017 and did not try out for the another annual contract because she felt “she was just not accepted on the team if she was a Christian,” according to the complaint filed this week with the Florida State Labor Board.
Ware says in the complaint that although she was co-captain of the cheerleading team and a fan favorite she suffered harassment from some representatives of the squad because of her social media postings about her faith andafter it became known that she was a virgin and planned to remain so until marriage.
Ware contends problems began after she posted a photo of her April 10, 2016, baptism on her public Twitter, Instagram and Facebook pages.
“I got sat down in an interview with my director and my coaches and they brought up my virginity, which was kind of shocking to me,” Ware told ABC News.
Ware said she had not publicized her decision to wait to have sex until marriage but that the topic had come up months earlier, in fall 2015, during a conversation with fellow Dolphins cheerleaders in front of other staff.
The Dolphins responded to Ware’s complaint in a statement to ABC News on Friday: “We are seriously committed to providing a positive work environment for everyone associated with the organization. We hold every member of our organization to the same standards and do not discriminate as it relates to gender, race and religious beliefs.”
Source-ABC
