Uned Stat Olympic soccer star Megan Rapoe has publicly stated that she is homosexual and a mted relatnship wh another soccer player om Atralia. The Olympian me out as gay the latt issue of "Out" magaze.
Contents:
- 'ONE LIFE': SOCCER PLAYER MEGAN RAPOE ON SPORTS, BEG GAY AND TAKG A STAND
- SUE BIRD AND MEGAN RAPOE FED THE NCEPT OF A GAY SPORTS POWER UPLE
- USWNT’S MEGAN RAPOE BE FIRST OPENLY GAY WOMAN TO POSE FOR SI SWIMSU ISSUE
- MARTA NAVRATILOVA ON MEGAN RAPOE AND THE TRAJECTORY OF GAY WOMEN SPORTS
- MEGAN RAPOE COM OUT AS GAY, REVEALS RELATNSHIP
- MEGAN RAPOE: 'GOD FORBID YOU BE A GAY WOMAN AND A PERSON OF LOR THE US'
- MEGAN RAPOE POS AS FIRST OPENLY GAY WOMAN SPORTS ILLTRATED'S SWIMSU ISSUE
'ONE LIFE': SOCCER PLAYER MEGAN RAPOE ON SPORTS, BEG GAY AND TAKG A STAND
Rapoe has ma headl for takg a stand on gay rights and women's rights, for takg a knee to support Black Rapoe, RAPINOE: Oh, thank you for havg Let's start at the begng. I don't know really what the solutn is, but I don't really like the way that 's One of the moments that ma me se the book is your acunt of how you realized that you are gay. Can you see a world where MAGA-hat-wearg Tmp voters embrace a gay soccer star wh pk hair?
(LAUGHTER)RAPINOE: I would tell her, you're gay, you know? Bird and her partner Megan Rapoe mastreamed the ncept of the gay sports power uple.
Almost om that very moment, the public embraced the two of them unlike any gay or lbian athlete uple before.
SUE BIRD AND MEGAN RAPOE FED THE NCEPT OF A GAY SPORTS POWER UPLE
The two legends began seeg each other only a year after the Obergefell cisn, which turned out to be ftg, as they eventually beme the sports power uple for the legalized gay marriage generatn. 2017: Sue Bird out as gay and announc her relatnship wh Megan Rapoe. While Rapoe publicly me out as gay 2012 via an OUT magaze feature, Bird did not e out until 2017.
"I'm gay. A year, five years, 10 years, 20 years, to look back and be like, 'Oh, they were the first openly gay uple to be the issue. She was one of the first soccer players to announce she was gay and has publicly supported LGBTQ rights, racial jtice, and equal pay.
USWNT’S MEGAN RAPOE BE FIRST OPENLY GAY WOMAN TO POSE FOR SI SWIMSU ISSUE
” She has been outspoken about several social issu, most notably LGBTQ rights and racial RightsRapoe, who realized she was gay while llege, publicly me out July 2012, ahead of the Olympic Gam.
” She further explaed, “Beg a gay Amerin, I know what means to look at the flag and not have protect all of your liberti. Her father’s vote for Tmp 2016 alienated Rapoe and her tw, who is also gay, though they renciled at a fay gatherg. Historic Media Appearanc, Book, and MoreIn 2018, Rapoe and Bird appeared on the ver of ESPN The Magaze’s Body Issue, the first openly gay uple to do so.
MARTA NAVRATILOVA ON MEGAN RAPOE AND THE TRAJECTORY OF GAY WOMEN SPORTS
Sayg she wanted to fy stereotyp, Megan Rapoe beme the first openly gay woman to pose for Sports Illtrated’s swimsu issue. “I thk so often wh gay femal sports, there’s this particular stereotype about and there’s such a narrow view of what means to be gay and be athletic. “I feel like sports general are still homophobic, the sense that not a lot of people are out, ” Rapoe said at the time.
Rapoe, who prevly appeared 2014 for that annual feature, said of sharg the experience wh Bird, “I thk neher of really wants to jt do thgs and be like, ‘We’re the gay uple. ’ But to have this really unique vehicle to actually do that, to celebrate who we are our sport, but also the fact that we’ll be the first gay uple, is pretty special.
At the same time that she ma the cisn not to return to Czechoslovakia, she also realized that she was gay.
MEGAN RAPOE COM OUT AS GAY, REVEALS RELATNSHIP
“I never said no, I wasn’t gay, ” she relled.
Cizenship was still pendg and uld be nied on the grounds of her homosexualy.
(This provisn of the Immigratn and Natnaly Act was dropped 1990, when was redrafted by Reprentative Barney Frank, of Massachetts, who is gay. She also told some of the other tennis players that, once she had her passport, “If anybody asks me about , I’m jt gog to say, ‘Y, I am gay.
MEGAN RAPOE: 'GOD FORBID YOU BE A GAY WOMAN AND A PERSON OF LOR THE US'
It seems like happened so quickly, gay marriage and all that, but if you are livg the middle of , happened very slowly. Natnal team star Megan Rapoe lghed and replied, “Go gays!
” She ntued: “You n’t w a champnship whout gays on your team. … For me, to be gay and fabulo durg Pri Month at the World Cup is nice. I had to read this quote a few tim, multiple different outlets, before I uld believe that an athlete performg at the top of her sport had said, unabashedly and kd of ridiculoly, “Go gays!
MEGAN RAPOE POS AS FIRST OPENLY GAY WOMAN SPORTS ILLTRATED'S SWIMSU ISSUE
And the jubilant self-exprsn she brgs to everythg she do, Rapoe has given gay fans a sports hero whose queer sexualy is a central part of her inty, activism, and fame. The women who play the sport at the hight level and their fans have long been disproportnately gay, but soccer’s erng body and the broar universe of sports fans have been slow to show support. Rapoe, by ntrast, has been exuberantly out about her gayns.
As a queer person who feels a small twge of disappotment each time a gay celebry mak a nned, bland remark about acceptance and tolerance and love beg love, I feel blsed to wns the light Rapoe tak her own queer self, and sharg that self wh the world.