American soccer star Megan Rapinoe said in a recent interview that challenging transgender participation in women’s sports is harmful.
Rapinoe brought up comments made by tennis legend Martina Navratilova and ESPN host Sage Steele, who believe transgender women should not compete against biological women in sports. Rapinoe also doesn’t appreciate comedian Dave Chappelle’s jokes on the subject.
“I don’t want to mince words about it,” Rapinoe told Time magazine in an interview published Monday. “Dave Chappelle making jokes about trans people leads directly to violence, whether verbal or otherwise, against trans people.
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OL Reign forward Megan Rapinoe, #15, is seen before the game against the Kansas City Current at Lumen Field. (Michael Thomas Shroyer-USA TODAY Sports)
“When Martina or Sage or whoever talks about this, people don’t just hear it in the context of elite sports. They’re saying, ‘The rest of my life, this is how I’m going to treat trans people.’ “
Navratilova has been an activist in the gay community, but has been against transgender women competing against biological women in sports.
In March, she applauded World Athletics for adopting a policy to exclude transgender athletes from women’s competition. She called it a “step in the right direction.”
“Following the World Athletics announcement, I think the best idea would be to have ‘biological female’ and ‘biological girls’ categories and then an ‘open’ category,” she wrote in an opinion piece in The Times of UK. .
MARTINA NAVRATILOVA HAS A WORD IN RESPONSE TO MEGAN RAPINOE’S COMMENTS ON TRANS PARTICIPATION IN FEMALE SPORTS
OL Reign forward Megan Rapinoe, #15, battles for the ball against Portland Thorns FC defender Natalia Kuikka, #14, and midfielder Sam Coffey, #17, in the first half at Lumen Field. (Stephen Brashear-USA TODAY Sports)
Steele has expressed support for former NCAA swimmer Riley Gaines for her advocacy to maintain equity in women’s sports. Steele stated that she supports Gaines, calling what has happened to trans people overcoming women’s sports “ridiculous”, “heartbreaking”, “hard to watch” and adding the hashtag “savewomensports”.
For Rapinoe, he went so far as to say that he would “absolutely” accept a transgender woman on the US women’s national team.
“‘You’re taking the place of a ‘real’ woman, that’s the part of the plot that’s still extremely transphobic. I see trans women as real women,” she said. “What you’re automatically saying in the argument, you’re already saying to yourself, is that you don’t believe these people are women. Therefore, they’re taking the other place. I don’t feel that way.” “
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USWNT forward Megan Rapinoe during the Women’s World Cup media day at Dignity Health Sports Park. (Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports)
Rapinoe was one of 40 professional athletes who signed a letter to House lawmakers in April opposing the Protection of Girls and Women in Sports Act, arguing that the bill would exclude women and girls from getting” mental and physical health benefits.
Fox News’ Paulina Dedaj contributed to this report.
