Megan Rapinoe is the co-captain of the United States Women’s national soccer team and is the first openly gay woman to have posed for the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.
She loves representing the US in sports but has a beef with Trump that has led her to kneel while the national anthem is being played just like NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick.
In a recent interview with Yahoo Sports, Rapinoe said, “I’ll probably never put my hand over my heart. I’ll probably never sing the national anthem again,” asserting that she is “a walking protest when it comes to the Trump administration,” because of “everything I stand for.”
She continued: “I feel like it’s kind of defiance in and of itself to just be who I am and wear the jersey, and represent it.point 220 |
Because I’m as talented as I am, I get to be here, you don’t get to tell me if I can be here or not.point 88 | So it’s kind of a good ‘F you’ to any sort of inequality or bad sentiments that the [Trump] administration might have towards people who don’t look exactly like him.point 244 |
Which, God help us if we all looked like him.point 36 | Scary.point 42 | Really scary.point 54 | Ahh, disturbing.point 69 | ”point 76 | 1
In 2011, Rapinoe belted out “Born in the USA” while holding a microphone during one FIFA World Cup qualifying match. But after Kaepernick made headlines by kneeling during the national anthem in 2016, Rapinoe followed suit. She first did this before a Reign match and again before a game against Thailand. She said that when she was kneeling she thought, “I know what it means to look at the flag and not have it protect all of your liberties.”
In response, the United States Soccer Federation said in a statement: “Our national anthem is an opportunity … to reflect upon the liberties and freedom we all appreciate in this country. As part of the privilege to represent your country, we have an expectation that our players and coaches will stand and honor our flag while the national anthem is played.”
This was followed by a policy in March 2017 that required the national team to “stand respectfully” when the national anthem was being played.
Rapinoe replied by saying, “It is an honor to represent the USA and all that we stand for – to be able to pull on the red, white and blue to play a game that I love,” but added that she would “respect the new bylaw.”
But she told Yahoo, “Using this blanketed patriotism as a defense against what the protest actually is was pretty cowardly.point 228 |
I think the NFL does it.point 19 | I felt like the statement from U.point 46 | S.point 48 | Soccer, and then the rule they made without ever talking to me, that was the same as what the NFL was doing – just to not have the conversation, to try to just stop me from doing what I’m doing instead of at least having a conversation, and trying to figure out a [solution] that makes sense for everyone.point 303 |
”point 7 | 1
Rapinoe sees Trump as “misogynistic,” “small-minded,” “sexist,” “racist,” and “not a good person.” She contends that the Trump administration does not “value all Americans equally,” and that the United States is hounded by “atrocities … extreme poverty … homelessness … mass incarceration … discrimination against people of color, and police brutality.”
When asked what would make her stop protesting, Rapinoe answered, “It would take a lot. It would take criminal justice reform. It would take the huge inequality gap that we have to be much better. It would take a lot of progress in LGBTQ rights. We just have such a disparity in this country in so many different ways, inequality in so many different ways.”
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