Megan Rapinoe Dedicates Her TIME ‘Woman Of The Year’ Honour To The Trans Community

When Megan Rapinoe, two-time World Cup winner with the U.S. women’s national soccer team and outspoken advocate for equal pay and LGBTQ+ rights, spoke on Wednesday at TIME’s second annual 'Women of the Year’ gala in Los Angeles, she dedicated her place on this year’s list to the trans community.

“I am only here because of them,” Rapinoe told the room, which included other honourees and notable guests. “We all know what’s going on in our country with the attempted erasure of trans people.”

Image Credit: Pixabay

Trans rights in the U.S. are in a precarious place, with legislation proposed in many states that would roll back care and freedoms for trans people. To date, about 300 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been introduced at the state level throughout the country. In January, for example, Utah passed the first law banning gender-affirming healthcare for trans youth, effectively erasing the opportunity for young people to seek out hormone therapy and change their names and genders on their birth certificates.

Speaking out against the spate of anti-trans legislation and increasing anti-trans sentiment, Rapinoe urged people to look at what trans people have created for the world: “a way to live a whole life and to be a whole person, whatever that may mean to you.”

As ‘Times’ report, Rapinoe pointed out the perspective she’s gained from the trans people in her own life. “The way they refuse to live their life any other way than completely whole is so inspiring. I’m inspired by the invitation to be completely myself. They offer us a full view of what it means to be a human in the world,” she said. “A whole opportunity to be the crazy ass human beings that we are. That’s a great gift.”

Rapinoe acknowledged the challenges and pressures—”to shrink, to soften, to disappear”—that women have historically faced. “We’re required to hold so much all of the time. Either carry the world on your back or you’ll be left behind,” she said.

But she also lamented that women seeking more for themselves haven’t always been inclusive: “White women have left Black women—and everyone else—behind. Straight women leave queer women behind.”

“Let’s not be those kinds of people,” Rapinoe concluded. “Being a woman: make it expansive. Don’t ever leave anybody behind. … Let’s bring everyone in and figure the rest out from there.”

Read related myGwork articles here:

Megan Rapinoe Honors Brittney Griner While Receiving Presidential Medal Of Freedom

Megan Rapinoe And Teammates Win Fight For Equal Pay Between Women’s And Men’s Soccer

Megan Rapinoe Says Anti-Trans Bills Are “Political Assaults” On LGBTQ+ Youth

Megan Rapinoe Is Sports Illustrated’s Sportsperson Of The Year

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