Megan Rapinoe slams ‘depraved’ Donald Trump over order banning transgender athletes
'If you strip it all back, it's just kind of cruel and depraved.'
Megan Rapinoe has labelled Donald Trump’s executive order banning transgender athletes from women’s sport as ‘cruel and depraved’.
Trump’s order, issued last month and effective immediately, is part of a sweeping package of new policies that the President said would ‘reclaim our culture and our laws’.
Under the order, entitled ‘Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports’, US agencies are directed to withdraw federal funding to any schools that do not comply with the newly introduced ban.
Since the policies introduction, the NCAA, which regulates collegiate sport, has amended its policy to limit women’s sports to student-athletes assigned female at birth.
But retired American footballer Rapinoe has vehemently disagreed with the policy and suggested it had nothing to do with maintaining fairness and protecting women.
‘Don’t tell me it’s about the rights of women’s sports,’ the two-time World Cup winner told MUNDIAL. ‘That is totally disingenuous to say that.
‘I think it’s just really cruel. You know, if you strip it all back, it’s just kind of cruel and depraved.
‘This isn’t an issue and you aren’t going to be able to Executive Order trans people out of existence.
‘We’ve just gone through a very long period over ten years of really needing to fight just to get to a baseline of, like, equal rights and non-discriminatory behaviour, and when people stop just s*****g on women’s sports. I think we are sort of at that moment.’
The issue of trans athletes in women’s collegiate sports came to a head several years ago when Lia Thomas became the first transgender swimmer to win an American collegiate title.
Thomas had aspirations of competing at the Olympics, but those hopes were dashed after rule changes implemented by World Aquatics.
Trump’s ban has received opposition from other prominent sportswomen, with former American basketball player Sue Bird among 40 athletes to sign a letter back in 2023 opposing a move to exclude trans athletes from women’s sports.
According to NCAA officials, it is estimated that fewer than 10 transgender athletes currently play women’s sports at partner schools.
At a professional level, the policy regarding trans athletes is set by individual governing bodies
Athletics and golf are some of the other sports along with swimming that have amended their policies to ban transgender women from competing in the female category at elite level if they have gone through male puberty.
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