Jaelene Hinkle shocked the women's soccer community when she made the decision to decline a call-up from the U.S. Women's National Team last June.

Her decision came shortly after U.S. Soccer announced that the squad would be wearing jerseys in honor of LGBTQ Pride Month during their June friendlies. There was speculation at the time that Hinkle, who is a devout and outspoken Christian, was withdrawing from the team because she didn't want to wear a pride jersey.

And Hinkle appeared to confirm that this week.

In an interview with Christian talk show The 700 Club, Hinkle extensively discussed her faith and explained how the announcement of the pride jersey led to her decision to withdraw from the team.

"I just felt so convicted in my spirit that it wasn't my job to wear this jersey," Hinkle said. "I gave myself three days to just seek and pray and determine what he was asking me to do in this situation... I knew in my spirit I was doing the right thing. I knew I was being obedient."

Hinkle, who competes for the North Carolina Courage in the National Women's Soccer League, has not received a call-up to the U.S. Women's National Team since withdrawing from the team last year.

The U.S. Women's National Team has multiple high-profile players that are openly gay and the team has a significant number of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender fans. U.S. Soccer has made a concerted effort to reach out to those fans, in part by wearing the LGBTQ Pride Month jerseys last year.

When North Carolina took on the Portland Thorns in Portland Wednesday, fans didn't hesitate in expressing their opinions about Hinkle.

Hinkle was booed when her name was announced in the lineup ahead of the game and one fan brought a two-stick to the match with the words "personal reasons" written in rainbow letters, a reference to the official reason that was used when Hinkle declined the call-up last June.

A "PERSONAL REASONS" in rainbow letters two-pole in Portland at tonight's Thorns FC/NC Courage match. Referencing Jaelene Hinkle declining a USWNT call-up last summer because of the jerseys the team wore in honor of LGBTQ Pride Month. pic.twitter.com/UpZTJq3f3b — Jacob Cristobal (@jacobcristobal) May 31, 2018

-- Jamie Goldberg | jgoldberg@oregonian.com

503-853-3761 | @jamiebgoldberg