When Megan Rapinoe, a former co-captain of America’s national women’s soccer team, was asked whether she would welcome a “transgender woman” on the U.S. women’s soccer team — “even if that woman took the place of someone assigned female at birth” — Rapinoe was unflinching: “Absolutely.”
“‘You’re taking a real woman’s place,’ that’s the part of the argument that’s still extremely transphobic. I see trans women as real women,” the outspoken athlete and progressive activist told Time in an interview published on Monday. “What you’re saying automatically in the argument — you’re sort of telling on yourself already — is you don’t believe these people are women. Therefore, they’re taking the other spot. I don’t feel that way.”
“We as a country are trying to legislate away people’s full humanity. It’s particularly frustrating when women’s sports is weaponized,” Rapinoe added. “Oh, now we care about fairness? Now we care about women’s sports? That’s total bulls**t. And show me all the trans people who are nefariously taking advantage of being trans in sports. It’s just not happening.”
“The most amazing thing about sports is that you play and you’re playing with other people, and you’re having fun and you’re being physically active,” the Gold medal Olympian asserted. “We’re putting this all through the lens of competition and winning. But we’re talking about people’s lives. That’s where we have to start.”
The soccer star went on to blast comedians and prominent women — specifically tennis champion Martina Navratilova and ESPN commentator Sage Steele — who have publicly questioned whether permitting biological men to compete against women is fair or safe.
“I don’t want to mince words about it. Dave Chappelle making jokes about trans people directly leads to violence, whether it’s verbal or otherwise, against trans people,” Rapinoe said.
“When Martina or Sage or whoever are talking about this, people aren’t hearing it just in the context of elite sports. They’re saying, ‘The rest of my life, this is how I’m going to treat trans people.’”
Rapinoe made similar comments to Time in a June 2022 interview, noting that she was “100 percent supportive of trans inclusion.”
“Show me the evidence that trans women are taking everyone’s scholarships, are dominating in every sport, are winning every title,” Rapinoe argued a year ago. By the time of her comments, transgender athletes were winning top spots in swimming, weightlifting, cycling, as well as track and field.
In April, Rapinoe and her partner, Sue Bird — a professional women’s basketball player — were among 40 female athletes to submit a brief opposing the Protection of Girls and Women in Sports Act introduced by Representative Gregory Steube (R., Fl.).
“We believe that gender equity in sport is critical, which is why we urge policymakers to turn their attention and effort to the causes women athletes have been fighting for decades, including equal pay, an end to abuse and mistreatment, uneven implementation of Title IX, and a lack of access and equity for girls of color and girls with disabilities, to name only a few,” the open letter reads.
“Our deepest hope is that transgender and intersex kids will never have to feel the isolation, exclusion and othering that H.R. 734 is seeking to enshrine into law.”
Rapinoe’s comments come after Wrexham FC, a professional men’s soccer team in the U.K., bested the U.S. Women’s team 12-0 in an exhibition last month.
In 2016, Rapinoe, alongside four other members of the women’s national team, filed a complaint against the U.S. Soccer Federation with the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission demanding equal pay with their male counterparts.
In 2019, the athletes filed a separate class-action lawsuit with the Central District of California alleging “institutionalized gender discrimination.” The suit was partially settled for $24 million in February 2022, with a promise to implement “equal pay” for both the men’s and women’s teams.
That same year, the U.S. women’s soccer team brokered a deal with the national federation enshrining equal pay for female athletes.