Megan Rapinoe blames Dave Chappelle for ‘violence’ against trans people

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In a wide-ranging feature for TIME Magazine prior to the upcoming Women’s World Cup, Rapinoe said she had a problem with Dave Chappelle, Martina Navratilova and Sage Steele for their opposition to transgender women playing in women’s sports.

“I don’t want to mince words about it,” Rapinoe said. “Dave Chappelle making jokes about trans people directly leads to violence, whether it’s verbal or otherwise, against trans people. When Martina or Sage or whoever are talking about this, people aren’t hearing it just in the context of elite sports. They’re saying, ‘The rest of my life, this is how I’m going to treat trans people.’”

“It’s particularly frustrating when women’s sports is weaponized,” she said. “Oh, now we care about fairness? Now we care about women’s sports? That’s total bullsh—t. And show me all the trans people who are nefariously taking advantage of being trans in sports. It’s just not happening.”

The U.S. soccer legend also said she would have no problem accepting a transgender woman on her team.

“Absolutely,” she said about the U.S. women’s soccer team having a transgender player.

“You’re taking a ‘real’ woman’s place,’ that’s the part of the argument that’s still extremely transphobic. I see trans women as real women.”

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