Megan Rapinoe
2014 Icon

Olympic Soccer Player

b. July 5, 1985, Redding, California

“Your personal life is less about people having to know about your sexuality than standing up for what’s right and fighting for equality.”

In 2012 professional soccer player Megan Rapinoe came out publicly two weeks before she was to play for the women’s soccer team in the London Olympics. “I feel like sports in general are still homophobic in the sense that not a lot of people are out,” she said. “I feel everyone is really craving [for] people to come out. People want—they need—to see that there are people like me playing soccer for the good ol’ U.S. of A.”

Being closeted made Rapinoe feel inauthentic. It was her desire to do the right thing, to “stand up for what’s right and to fight for equality.” She said that when she came out she became a better player. In the Olympic Games, she scored three goals and logged four assists, helping her team win the gold medal.

“I’d like to help create more tolerance and acceptance across the board,” Rapinoe asserted. That means more people talking about it, more people coming out and, at the end of the day, making less of a massive deal about being gay. I’d like to see homosexuality become something that’s just normal to everyone.”