A college basketball coach hopeful claims she was denied a job ‘because she’s no longer gay’ after her new boss saw a video of her blasting homosexuality as ‘wrong’.
Camille LeNoir was thrilled when her former college coach, Mark Trakh, had offered her an assistant position at New Mexico State University on April 24, 2016.
But just two days before she was due to board a plane to start her new role in New Mexico, she says she got call from Trakh, 62, rescinding her offer, the Washington Post reports.
Camille LeNoi was thrilled when her former college coach, Mark Trakh, had offered her an assistant position at New Mexico State University on April 24, 2016
He’d seen a video she posted online where she described homosexuality was ‘wrong’ and ‘not worth losing your soul over’ and advised her to remove it immediately if she ever wanted to work in college football.
LeNoir, who identified as gay for most of her career, claims she was left with the impression that she would have got the job if she was still gay.
‘I felt the job was taken away because of my heterosexuality,’ LeNoir, 31, said.
LeNoir, , a former WNBA’s Washington Mystics second-round draft pick, went onto say in the video that sports were ‘evil,’ complaining about ‘idol worship, greed, the level of money, the hatred, the envy.’
‘Everything that Jesus preached from the Sermon on the Mount contradicts everything the sports atmosphere promotes,’ the 23-year-old had said. ‘Everything.’
LeNoir claims she was left with the impression that she would have got the job if she was still gay
LeNoir said that Trakh had asked her if she still felt the way she did in the video during the call.
‘So I shared with him that I did, and that I was no longer in that lifestyle,’ she said, adding Trakh told her ‘the fact that I’m no longer homosexual would affect recruiting.’
While she stood down on her claims sport was ‘evil’, the aspiring coach said she stood by her beliefs that homosexuality was ‘evil’.
LeNoir is now suing New Mexico State in U.S. District Court, on claims she was discriminated against because of her religious beliefs and sexual identity.
New Mexico State confirms Trakh rescinded the offer but denies discrimination.
It argues, in court filings, that LeNoir’s negative feelings about homosexuality ‘would have had an adverse impact’ on her ‘ability to effectively coach and recruit players who identify as LGBT.’
LeNoir, a former WNBA’s Washington Mystics second-round draft pick, who also played for USC, during an NCAA women’s basketball game featuring the Oregon Ducks against the USC Trojans played at the Galen Center in Los Angeles
LeNoir, who began playing basketball aged 7, was a high school star who led USC team to two NCAA tournament appearances (pictured recently playing golf)
Trakh, 62, left New Mexico State in April to return to USC where a spokesman said they were unable to comment due to pending litigation.
LeNoir, who began playing basketball aged 7, was a high school star who led USC team to two NCAA tournament appearances. She has identified as straight for the past seven years.
But since identifying as straight, she said she hasn’t felt pressure to change her sexuality.
She failed to stick with the Mystics but flew around the world with the sport, and became one of the top guards in Greece, where she spent two years playing professionally.
It was there she discovered her love for the Bible and became increasingly consumed by her faith. As she did so, she said she struggled to reconcile herself as a lesbian with conservative Christian teachings.
‘It was just a constant wrestling with what I know the Bible says, my family says and my emotions. And so I got to the point where, like, I’m choosing this over that.’