Former Soccer Star Megan Rapinoe Questions Motives for Keeping Men from Women’s Sports

Former U.S. soccer star Megan Rapinoe has claimed that people have questionable motives for wanting to keep men out of women’s sports.

Speaking on the A Touch More podcast, Rapinoe responded to an op-ed from Angel City FC player Elizabeth Eddy calling on the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) to adopt clear gender guidelines.

 

“Are we really protecting women in sports, or are we doing this just thinly veiled, ‘Oh my god, we’re scared, and we have to protect women in sports?’” Rapinoe said. “And it’s like, ‘We’re fine. We don’t even have any trans players in the NWSL.’ That was really, I felt, pretty disingenuous.”

Rapinoe then cited former U.S. men’s soccer star Landon Donovan and his new hairpiece, noting that he wanted to avoid public mockery because of it. Rapinoe said that transgender athletes in women’s sports is about people feeling comfortable in their own skin.

 

“I just was totally struck by the familiarity of the story and the similarity to, as a gay person, our own pursuit of gay rights and of being our full selves, specifically of trans people, in this moment in general,” Rapinoe said. “And, like, it fucking matters how you feel when you look in the mirror. It matters how you feel inside your own body. It doesn’t matter what anybody else thinks.”

“I think so often when we talk about gay rights, and specifically trans rights, we’re, like, trying to express at a basic level of how vital and how important it is for everyone to be able to exist in their own skin and in their own bodies in the way that they want and the way that feels comfortable. It doesn’t have to do with anybody else. And it really can be life-changing, it can be life-saving in so many ways. And I just think it’s really important,” she continued.

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