Megan Rapinoe on the importance of letting transgender kids play sports

Megan Rapinoe on the importance of letting transgender kids play sports

Megan Rapinoe may be one of the most famous soccer players in the United States, but she is also known for using her platform to help others. She has long been an inspiration to young female athletes and LGBTQ people, and she notably led the U.S. Women's National Team in the fight for equal pay alongside teammates like Alex Morgan and Hope Solo. Most recently, in an interview with Time, she shared an important message about the need for transgender inclusion in sports, providing a much-needed perspective amid increasing legislation targeting youth transgender athletes.

“I support trans inclusion 100 percent,” Rapinoe told the magazine. "People don't know much about it. We're missing almost everything. I think people also need to understand that sport [is] not the most important thing in life, right? Life is the most important thing in life. And so much of this trans inclusion argument has been brought through the extremely small lens of elite sport," she added.

To back this up a bit, there has long been controversy over how transgender athletes can compete in sports, affecting regulations at colleges, professional leagues and all the way up to the Olympics. However, some states have taken action to restrict or ban school-age transgender students from participating in sports in public schools. For example, in March 2022, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey signed a bill requiring transgender children playing sports to be on teams corresponding to their gender assigned at birth, and this is just one of many bills currently targeting transgender youth in sports. (Related: The Troubling Truth About Transgender Discrimination in Healthcare)

“Concentrated efforts have been made in dozens of states across the country to ban transgender athletes from participating in school sports on teams consistent with who they are,” Casey Pick, senior fellow for advocacy and government affairs at The Trevor Project, previously told Shape. “This is coordinated by national anti-LGBTQ organizations like the Alliance Defending Freedom, whose main goal is not to protect women and girls in sports, but to marginalize transgender and non-binary youth,” Pick explained.

Rapinoe provided an important reminder that the subjects of this type of legislation are children, not elite athletes. “We’re talking about kids,” she told Time. "We're talking about people's lives. They commit suicide because they're told that they're gross and different and evil and sinful and that they can't play sports with the friends they grew up with," Rapinoe added, calling attention to the fact that LGBTQ youth are at particular risk of developing mental health problems and considering suicide.

"I would also encourage anyone out there who is afraid that someone has an unfair advantage over their child to really take a step back and think about what we're actually talking about here," Rapinoe told Time. She also advocated for transgender athletes at higher levels. "Show me the evidence that trans women take every scholarship, dominate in every sport, win every title. I'm sorry, it's just not happening." (Related: What People Always Get Wrong About the Trans Community, According to a Trans Sex Educator)

Inclusion is simply the way forward, both for transgender children in sports and for professional transgender athletes. “We have to start with inclusion, period,” said the star athlete. "And when things fall into place, I'm confident we can figure it out. But we can't start with the opposite. That's cruel. And frankly, it's just disgusting."