𝐒𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐏𝐋𝐈𝐄𝐃 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐃𝐈𝐒𝐍𝐄𝐘’𝐒 𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐀𝐓𝐄, 𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐃 𝐈𝐓 𝐖𝐑𝐎𝐍𝐆 𝐎𝐍 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐃𝐀𝐘 𝐎𝐅𝐅, 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐄𝐒𝐏𝐍 𝐒𝐔𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐃 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐀𝐍𝐘𝐖𝐀𝐘 Sage Steele had wanted to be a sportscaster since she was eleven years old, and by 2021 she was living that dream at ESPN. Then Disney handed every employee the same ultimatum:... be fully vaccinated by September 30th, or be fired. Steele was in the worst possible position to fight it. She had just come through a divorce, was raising three teenagers, and carried 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐡𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 with college bills landing all at once. So she complied. She took a vaccine she did not want in order to keep the job she loved, and she says she has regretted it ever since. That same day, a podcast host asked what she thought of the mandate, and she told the truth: “𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰”. She had already obeyed. She said it on her own time. 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐧𝐞𝐲 𝐬𝐮𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐢𝐫, then stripped away her biggest assignments. Then she watched the double standard play out in the open. Her liberal colleagues editorialized freely on ESPN’s airwaves — against Florida’s parental-rights bill, mourning the end of Roe — and no one laid a finger on them. 𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐫-𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠; 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭. So she sued the Walt Disney Company. Her father, the first Black varsity football player at West Point, had made her memorize the cadet prayer as a girl: “𝘔𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘶𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨”. The night before the lawsuit went public, she apologized to her seventeen-year-old son for the ugly headlines coming. He looked at her and said, “𝘔𝘰𝘮, 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘶𝘱 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧”. 𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐧𝐞𝐲, 𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐩 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐤𝐢𝐝𝐬 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞.show more

M.A. Rothman

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