Megan Rapinoe – 'I'm proud of where we've gotten to'

Soccer great Megan Rapinoe talks with best-selling author Roxane Gay about her career, her advocacy work and legislating equality

- By Roxane Gay

IN 2016, NFL QUARTERBACK Colin Kaepernick stunned the American public by kneeling during the national anthem. He took that knee to protest police brutality and systemic racism and, in an instant, changed the conversation about athletes, activism and fighting for social justice—at great personal cost; since that season, no pro team in the U.S. has hired him. That same year, the professional soccer player Megan Rapinoe also took a knee in solidarity. It was a simple but powerful gesture that reverberated across the country, too. It was allyship in the truest sense of the word.

In an instant, Rapinoe became a symbol of what progress could look like. It also made her a target—for disagreement and disappointment, anger and vitriol, even death threats. She refused to be silenced and today, 50 years after Title IX first mandated equal treatment of high school and college women under federal law, Rapinoe continues to advocate for equal pay, fairness, bodily autonomy, Black lives and much more.

On the soccer pitch, Rapinoe is poetry in motion. Whether passing the ball to teammates or aiming between goalposts, she is a brilliant technician, precise and confident. One of my favorite images of Rapinoe is the moment just after she first scored during the 2019 World Cup quarterfinals against France. She spreads her arms wide smiling as she looks up because she knows she has done good. Rapinoe has given decades of her life to sport. From youth teams coached by her father to club soccer to the Olympics, she has played the beautiful game at every level. She is one of the all-time leading scorers in women’s soccer and has received countless awards for her work both on the field and off.