Ashley Landis/AP
Soccer star Megan Rapinoe has faced an entirely new wave of backlash for her advocacy for transgender athletes, but she’s shown no signs of backing down.
The 38-year-old announced her plans to retire from women’s soccer at the end of the current season of the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL). Before that time comes, Rapinoe will look to help the U.S. women’s national team secure its third straight FIFA Women’s World Cup championship.
Speaking about her career in a recent interview with TIME, Rapinoe called out her trans rights opponents for not being as vocal when the national team fought for equal pay.
“We as a country are trying to legislate away people’s full humanity,” said. “It’s particularly frustrating when women’s sports is weaponized. Oh, now we care about fairness? Now we care about women’s sports? That’s total bullshit. 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. 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.”
Rapinoe also accused ESPN’s Sage Steele, former tennis player Martina Navratilova, and comedian Dave Chappelle of doing harm “that reaches far beyond the athletic field.”
“I don’t want to mince words about it,” she said. “Dave Chappelle making jokes about trans people directly leads to violence, whether it’s verbal or otherwise, against trans people. 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.””
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