North Carolina Courage defender Jaelene Hinkle made waves Wednesday after admitting that she declined a call-up from the U.S. Women's National Team last June because she didn't want to wear a jersey supporting the LGBTQ community.

Hinkle, a devout Christian, withdrew from the U.S. Women's National Team last June after U.S. Soccer announced that the squad would be wearing jerseys in honor of LGBTQ Pride Month during their friendlies.

In an interview Wednesday 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 immediately drew backlash for the comments on social media. She was then booed ahead of a match between the Courage and the Portland Thorns in Portland Wednesday night. 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.

North Carolina coach Paul Riley and forward Jessica McDonald came to Hinkle's defense after the match, which the Courage won 4-1.

"She's high on her faith and in my opinion, I think that's absolutely incredible," McDonald said. "If she's for God, that's fine, that's great. If that's what keeps her going in her life and keeps positivity in her life, then let that be. Everyone has their opinions about The Bible and God. It's obviously not in my control what she thinks.

"At the end of the day, I'm still going to be friends with her," McDonald continued. "We have no problems with each other. She's never said anything bad about me. She never said anything bad about anybody. So, for people to pass on that kind of judgement on another human being, I think it's sort of uncalled for. She's got her opinions. That's fine. Everybody does. It hasn't affected our team at all."

Riley said that it wasn't easy for Hinkle to deal with the backlash and praised her for her ability to put that aside and play a strong game Wednesday night.

He said that Hinkle's comments haven't led to any problems that he is aware of in the Courage locker room.

"She gets on with it," Riley said. "It's not easy for a young woman. She was emotional after the game, but she's got a good heart and she battled through the game. It's not an easy thing for her. I give her a lot of credit to be perfectly honest with you. Whatever her beliefs are, whatever she believes in, that's her. It doesn't affect the team, it doesn't seem to affect anybody on the team."

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. None of the national team players have responded to Hinkle's comments at this point.

Courage forward Crystal Dunn was the only national team player made available after Wednesday's game between the Thorns and Courage. Dunn said she hadn't heard anything about Hinkle's comments.

Hinkle declined to comment after Wednesday's game.

-- Jamie Goldberg | jgoldberg@oregonian.com

503-853-3761 | @jamiebgoldberg