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  • The Angel City Paradox: When Inclusion Meets Exclusion – LAmag

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    Elizabeth Eddy’s anti-trans op-ed ignites backlash at LA’s most inclusive soccer club

    In Los Angeles, a city that prides itself on inclusion, few sports franchises embody that spirit like Angel City Football Club. Founded on equity, empowerment, and community, ACFC is by far the most inclusive team in the National Women’s Soccer League, if not in all professional sports.

    Which is why, when one of Angel City’s own players, veteran midfielder Elizabeth Eddy, published an op-ed in the New York Post on October 27, arguing that transgender women should not be allowed to play in the NWSL, the backlash from fans was instant.  

    The Op-Ed That Sparked the Firestorm

    In her column titled “National Women’s Soccer League Must Adopt Gender Standards to Keep Growing,” Eddy called for the NWSL to implement “biological eligibility requirements,” including “chromosomal testing and birth-assigned sex verification,” to “protect fairness” in women’s sports.

    Her argument, presented as a call for clarity, reads to ACFC faithfuls like a call for exclusion. Eddy warned that without these restrictions, the league could “lose credibility” and “alienate fans.”

    The editorial dropped like a flare in a league that currently has no active transgender policy. NWSL’s previous 2021 guidelines expired in 2022, leaving a vacuum that conservative voices have been eager to fill. 

    The Angel City Identity Crisis

    To understand why this landed so hard, you have to understand Angel City’s DNA.

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    The club’s founders, actress Natalie Portman, venture capitalist Kara Nortman, and tech entrepreneur Julie Uhrman, often describe Angel City’s creation as an epiphany, not a business plan. After attending a U.S. Women’s National Team match and realizing that the sport’s cultural power far exceeded its investment, the three women imagined what it would look like if equity and impact were built into the foundation of a franchise rather than added later as branding. Out of that moment of clarity, Angel City FC was born — a social-impact startup disguised as a soccer team.

    From day one, they pledged to donate 10% of all sponsorship revenue back into the community, host LGBTQ+ inclusion and equity workshops, and proudly wear jerseys declaring that “Los Angeles is for Everyone.”  Their annual Pride Night isn’t performative; it’s policy. 

    Which is why one of their own players arguing publicly that some women aren’t women enough feels less like free speech and more like brand sabotage.

    The Sound of Silence

    As of publication, Angel City FC has not released an official statement on Eddy’s article. No teammates have publicly defended her, either.  That silence speaks volumes.  If the team condemns her words, it risks alienating players who agree with her privately. If it stays silent, it risks alienating the community that built its fanbase.

    This is the paradox of modern sports activism: the very inclusivity that defines Angel City also demands accountability when someone betrays it.

    What’s Really at Stake

    Women’s soccer has truly become a cultural battleground where identity, fairness, and belonging intersect. Angel City was supposed to represent the best version of that intersection: fearless, inclusive, forward-thinking, but does that mean banishing those who don’t agree to the sidelines?

    True inclusion shouldn’t mean ideological conformity, but it also can’t tolerate rhetoric that undermines the very people it vows to protect. Angel City now sits in that gray zone, where protecting marginalized players and fans may require setting boundaries that look, on the surface, exclusionary. 

    It raises a deeper question: does inclusivity mean letting everyone speak freely, or does it mean creating a space where everyone feels safe to exist? In practice, those two goals often clash, and how Angel City handles that collision could shape what inclusivity really means in modern sport.

    Elizabeth Eddy’s essay might have been intended as a plea for fairness. But in context, it reads more like an act of betrayal not only to the trans community, but to the team whose very existence symbolizes belonging.  

    In Los Angeles, inclusion has never been a trend, it’s always felt more like a promise.  And right now the world is watching to see whether Angel City can figure out how to keep it.

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    Alexandra Kazarian

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  • Angel City FC player Madison Hammond demonstrates leadership, compassion on and off the field

    Angel City FC player Madison Hammond demonstrates leadership, compassion on and off the field

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    LOS ANGELES (KABC) — When Angel City FC’s Madison Hammond steps onto the field, she’s a professional soccer player, a friend, a daughter and a leader.

    The last of which she realized as a rookie, playing in Seattle in the summer of 2020. Through riots and reckoning, her team at the time went on a privilege walk, lined up as if to race, but first listening to 10 statements, taking a step forward for each that applies to them.

    “One of the statements was, take a step forward if you were raised in a two-parent household. Take a step forward if you could’ve afforded to go to college without a scholarship,” said Hammond.

    Madison, who has always felt supported, comfortable, even privileged, took three steps. Among the fewest on her team.

    “You realize, I had to do so much work to get to the exact same training session, to the exact same moment of playing professional soccer,” said Hammond.

    It was a career-defining moment that had both nothing and everything to do with the game itself.

    The now 26-year-old defender is the first Native American player in the National Women’s Soccer League.

    Her mother raised her in New Mexico’s San Felipe Pueblo, immersed in indigenous culture.

    She’s also Black, a part of her identity she’s more deliberately grown into.

    “That identity has been something I’ve reclaimed as I’ve continued growing and continued entering new spaces with a lot of impressive Black woman as well,” said Hammond.

    At Angel City, Madison finds examples on every level.

    “As a player she has evolved in the short period of time we’ve been Angel City and as a person she’s evolved,” said Angela Hucles Mangano, the club’s general manager.

    Much of Angel City’s incentive is built around community. For example, to commemorate Black History Month, the team hired SoCal native and illustrator Tyler Misha Barnett to design a limited collection, with 10% of proceeds going to a local nonprofit.

    On the field, Black History Month is a collection of personal stories, of players like Madison leading the way for the future.

    “I know what it’s like to have that power to have a voice, so if I can give younger players or even older players feel like they have a space where they have a voice and also still play the sport that we all love and we’re all here for, then I’ve done at least a little bit of my job,” said Hammond.

    Copyright © 2024 KABC Television, LLC. All rights reserved.

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    Christiane Cordero

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  • Video purportedly shows ex-Angel City FC player flashing Nazi salute at pro-Israel rally in Beverly Hills

    Video purportedly shows ex-Angel City FC player flashing Nazi salute at pro-Israel rally in Beverly Hills

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    Angel City FC has condemned the “recent actions and statements” of a former player who appears to be captured in a video giving a Nazi salute at pro-Israel demonstrators Sunday in Beverly Hills.

    Stefany Ferrer Van Ginkel is shown shouting “Heil Hitler!” and giving the Sieg Heil salute out of the passenger side window of a car driven by a man, according to a video posted on X on Monday by the watchdog group StopAntisemitism.

    Members of the pro-Israel crowd responded with, “Shame on you!”

    The StopAntisemitism group asked for help in identifying the two people in the vehicle. That evening, it posted an update identifying the woman as “Stefany Neyra.”

    A spokesperson for StopAntisemitism told The Times via email that the information was sent to the organization by a confidential source.

    Ferrer Van Ginkel seems to have gone by the name Stefany C. Neyra on her social media accounts, which have since been deactivated. StopAntisemitism posted a screenshot of an Instagram account with the Neyra name and the handle @stefvangi21 that included photos that appear to be of Ferrer Van Ginkel. She could not immediately be reached for comment.

    As tensions over the Israel-Hamas war continue to intensify in the U.S., Angel City FC attempted to distance itself from Ferrer Van Ginkel with a post on X on Monday night.

    “Stefany Ferrer Van Ginkel (stefvangi21) does not play for Angel City Football Club, nor has she been affiliated with the club since November 2022,” the club wrote. “We condemn her recent actions and statements.”

    In response to further questions for this article, Angel City FC referred The Times back to that statement.

    Ferrer Van Ginkel posted a video to Instagram on Monday night, before the account was deactivated, that appeared to address the incident at the rally. In the clip, Ferrer Van Ginkel sits silently next to a man, who offers an apology on behalf of both of them.

    “I know we have approached the situation with hate and made it worse with our actions,” the man says in the video. “We acted childish and it’s the wrong way to approach any situation that we live in. All we can do is become better, learn a lesson from this. We cannot change the past. And we just wanted to apologize and ask for you guys to understand and stop the hate. We just wanna spread love from now on. We understand we did the wrong thing.”

    Ferrer Van Ginkel, 25, grew up in Brazil, appeared in a British reality show and played with Tigres of Mexico’s Liga MX Femenil before playing for Angel City during its inaugural season in 2022. Her contract was not renewed after that campaign, and she does not seem to have played professionally since then.

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    Chuck Schilken

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