U.S. soccer star Megan Rapinoe said in a recent interview that questioning transgender participation in women’s sports is harmful.
Rapinoe mentioned remarks made by tennis legend Martina Navratilova and ESPN anchor Sage Steele, who believe transgender women should not be competing against biological females in sports. Rapinoe also does not appreciate comedian Dave Chappelle’s jokes about the issue.
“I don’t want to mince words about it,” Rapinoe told Time magazine in an interview published Monday. “Dave Chappelle making jokes about trans people directly leads to violence, whether it’s verbal or otherwise, against trans people.
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“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.’”
Navratilova has been an activist for the gay community but has been against transgender women competing against biological women in sports.
In March, she applauded World Athletics for adopting a policy to exclude transgender female athletes from women’s competitions. She called it a “step in the right direction.”
“In the wake of World Athletics’ announcement, I think the best idea would be to have ‘biological female’ and ‘biological girls’ categories and then an ‘open’ category,” she wrote in an op-ed in The Times of UK.
Steele has expressed support for former NCAA swimmer Riley Gaines for her advocacy to keep women’s sports fair. Steele declared that she stands with Gaines and called what has occurred with trans people overtaking women’s sports “ridiculous,” “heartbreaking,” “difficult to watch” and added the hashtag “savewomensports.”
For Rapinoe, she went as far as to say that she would “absolutely” accept a transgender woman on the U.S. women’s national team.
“‘You’re taking a “real” woman’s place,’ that’s the part of the argument that’s still extremely transphobic. I see trans women as real women,” she said. “What you’re saying automatically in the argument—you’re sort of telling on yourself already—is you don’t believe these people are women. Therefore, they’re taking the other spot. I don’t feel that way.”
Rapinoe was one of 40 professional athletes to co-sign a letter to House lawmakers in April in opposition of the Protection of Girls and Women in Sports Act, arguing that the bill would exclude women and girls from getting “mental and physical health benefits.”
Fox News’ Paulina Dedaj contributed to this report.
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