Megan Rapinoe says sports have become ‘another avenue to attack’ trans rights

Football star wrote that you can’t ‘say we care about children’ if transgender youth are told that they cannot participate in sports that match their gender identity

Megan Rapinoe says that sports have now become “another avenue to attack” trans rights.

The National Women’s Soccer League star wrote in an opinion piece for The Washington Post that “being able to play sports as a child shaped my life’s path”.

She added: “It taught me so much more than is seen on the field and brought me so much joy. Every child deserves to have that experience. That’s why I believe that all kids, including transgender youth, should be able to participate in sports they love.”

She criticised lawmakers in more than 25 states across the nation who have introduced laws that would bar young transgender individuals from participating in sports and sports teams that match their gender identity.

She specifically pointed to “the Mississippi Fairness Act” recently signed into law by Governor Tate Reeves. The legislation forces schools to allocate teams based on genders assigned at birth and bars transgender athletes from participating in a way that matches their gender identity.

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Mr Reeves tweeted on 4 March that the law was intended to “protect young girls from being forced to compete with biological males for athletic opportunities”.

He added: “It’s crazy we have to address it, but the Biden [Executive Order] forced the issue. Adults? That’s on them. But the push for kids to adopt transgenderism is just wrong.”

The executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality Mara Keisling said in a statement that Mr Reeves’s “actions... are unjust and discriminatory. He has targeted transgender kids and added to their burden, opening them up to more harassment, abuse and violence. Transgender students should be allowed to live their lives without fear and out of the shadows”.

The law will go into effect on 1 July, but is expected to face legal challenges, NBC News reported.

Ms Rapinoe, an Olympic gold medalist, wrote that “these bills are some of the most intense political assaults on LGBTQ people in recent years. Sports have become another avenue to attack the rights of trans people. These efforts cause incredible harm to trans youth.”

She noted that transgender youth have been especially isolated during the pandemic and that even before the lockdown and quarantines of the last year, one out of every three young transgender individuals reported trying to end their lives, according to the Trevor Project.

The two-time FIFA world champion wrote that the anti-trans bills were trying to “solve a problem that doesn’t exist”.

Directly criticising the argument that lawmakers make that they are protecting women’s sports, Ms Rapinoe wrote that “the threats to women’s and girls’ sports are lack of funding, resources and media coverage; sexual harassment; and unequal pay”.

She added: “Adults can’t pretend that we care about the well-being of children while actively creating environments that cause serious harm to them. We can’t make demands for a false sense of fairness while ignoring the actual needs of women and girls.”

Writing that these laws are an “attack on the humanity and belonging of trans people” she added that “for some, discrimination is the point” and called on women to “stand up and demand that exclusion is not done in our name”.

The football star wrote that “we lose the right to say we care about children” if transgender youth are told that they cannot participate in sports that match their gender identity.

Writing that “discrimination hurts everyone,” Ms Rapinoe concluded: “I want every transgender kid out there to know that they can live their dreams and be true to who they are. For them to realize those dreams, they need to be allowed to play.”