Megan Rapinoe is no stranger to attention…on and off the field. The legendary footballer, who will play her last World Cup this summer in Australia and New Zealand after announcing her retirement last week, has been a staunch advocate of transgender rights in recent times.
The subject of inclusion of transgender athletes in women’s sport is certainly a divisive issue. It is a subject which has been the subject of debate and controversy over the last few months and years and which is close to the RapinoeIt is heart.
The attacker, who has become in some way a icon for his activism and never-say-die attitude, has continually spoken out in favor of the inclusion of transgender athletes in sports and in a recent interview with Time magazine once again passionately shared his opinion on this controversial topic.
Just a few weeks before the start of the Women’s World Cup, Rapinoe said she would be more than happy to share the field with a transgender athlete.
“Absolutely. You’re taking the place of a ‘real’ woman. This is the part of the argument that is still extremely transphobic.”. I see trans women as real women,” Rapinoe explained to Time. “What you’re automatically saying in the argument – you’re already kind of saying it about yourself – is that you don’t believe these people are women. So they take the other place. I don’t feel that way. »
Rapinoe believes that the inclusion of transgender athletes does not disrupt the competitive balance in sports, which is something that World Athletics, for example, disagrees with. The president of the governing body, Lord Sebastian Coeannounced in late March that no transgender athletes who had already reached puberty as men would be allowed to compete in women’s competitions, a decision hotly contested by the trans community.
In football, there are indeed transgender players who participate in the women’s category. In 2020, Mara Gomez becoming the first transgender footballer to play in a top Argentine professional league. In Spain, Ana Palacios became the first trans player to play in women’s football – she currently represents Torrelodones CF in Spain’s new semi-professional third division.
The subject continues to polarize the sports world and the debate continues to rage. Whether or not transgender players will end up playing on national teams remains to be seen.
