Megan Rapinoe: Trump is excluding people like me
Women’s World Cup champion Megan Rapinoe
Lesbian World Cup champion Megan Rapinoe has accused Donald Trump of excluding people like her with discriminatory policies.
The player was part of the US football squad that won the Women’s World Cup on Sunday (July 7), in the face of an ongoing spat with President Donald Trump.
Megan Rapionoe on Trump feud: ‘I meant every word’
In an interview with out CNN host Anderson Cooper on Tuesday, Rapinoe stood by her claim that she was “not going to the f**king White House” for a reception with the leader, adding: “I meant all of it, and every word of it.
“I would not go, and every teammate I’ve talked to about it would not go.
“I don’t think anyone on the team has any interest in lending the platform we’ve worked so hard to build, the things we fight for and the way we live our life, allowing that to be co-opted by this administration.
“There’s so many people I would rather talk to and have meaningful conversations to effect change in Washington than going to the White House.”
Megan Rapinoe challenges Trump over ‘Make American Great Again’
Addressing the President directly, she said: “Your message is excluding people. You’re excluding me, you’re excluding people that look like me, you’re excluding people of colour, you’re excluding Americans that maybe support you.
“We need to have a reckoning with the message that you have, and what you’re saying with ‘Make America Great Again,’ I think you’re harking back to an era that was not great for everyone.
“It might have been great for a few people, and maybe America’s great for a few people right now, but it’s not great for enough Americans in this world.”
You’re excluding me, you’re excluding people that look like me, you’re excluding people of colour.
CNN host Anderson Cooper pointed out that returning America to an era of the 1950s would mean a world “where you could be imprisoned for being gay, where you could be sent by your family to a mental hospital, where you could not walk down the street holding hands with your loved one, or go dancing, or anything.”
He added: “It’s interesting how different people view things through a very personal lens, and maybe don’t walk in the shoes of other people, who did not have rights in a past halcyon America.”
Women’s World Cup champion Megan Rapinoe
Rapinoe said: “It was not a great place for a lot of people, it was a very oppressive place. As one of the great countries of the world, we need to constantly look within and challenge ourselves to be better.”
The World Cup star said that while she would not attend a reception with Trump, she might take up invites to travel to Washington DC for meetings with Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and bipartisan Congressional leaders.
