This story originally appeared on The Advocate.
While politicians continue to target transgender people and shift their positions, Megan Rapinoe remains steadfast in her support for trans athletes.
On the Who’s With Me? podcast, the soccer legend and out lesbian was asked by host W. Kamau Bell why she wasn’t afraid of trans women in sports. Rapinoe responded by challenging a familiar anti-trans talking point: that athletes can simply declare themselves women and compete.
“There’s a lot that trans people have to go through if you’re a trans person in sports to even play,” she began. “It’s like you couldn’t just say one day, 'I’m a woman,' and go play. That’s not how it works.”
She then questioned how critics of trans inclusion define fairness.
“God forbid somebody be good at sports and have some sort of advantage, which, by the way, sports is not fair in any sort of way ever. Right?” Rapinoe said.
“It’s like it’s not meant to be fair,” Bell agreed.
“Yeah. I’m like, what’s fair?” Rapinoe responded.
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Rapinoe pointed to 7-foot-4 San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama, whose height and reach give him natural advantages on the court, and asked, “Is that fair?”
She explained that elite sports are based on competitive advantage.
“What is it like? What does that mean even? So it’s already not fair,” Rapinoe said. “And also just like, it isn’t the most important thing in the world over someone’s human rights or getting to play or being cool to people.”
A two-time World Cup champion and Olympic gold medalist with the U.S. women’s national team, Rapinoe said she brings firsthand experience to that discussion.
“I’ve won everything at every level basically and played, you know, in sort of every competition ... I’m the one who could speak to it," she said.
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Her advocacy for transgender athletes has drawn conservative attacks and cost her brand deals, as Them reported earlier this year.
When Bell mentioned Royce White and Enes Kanter Freedom, two former NBA players who made headlines after saying they planned to register for the WNBA draft by identifying as women, Rapinoe dismissed the proposal.
“Sad. I’m like, 'Y’all have nothing better to do?’ What? Like, wow,” she said. “Just grifting. It’s kind of It’s embarrassing.”
Rapinoe also welcomed the prospect of seeing trans athletes succeed at the highest levels.
“I can’t wait to see an elite, elite trans person play sports. That would be great,” she said.
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Her comments come amid a debate shaped in part by public misconceptions about how many transgender athletes compete.
A recent poll conducted by The Bulwark and independent Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Pablo Torre found that about 15 percent of respondents believed transgender athletes accounted for between 1 percent and 5 percent of NCAA athletes — as many as 1 in 20. Another 14 percent put the share between 6 percent and 25 percent — as many as 1 in 4.
Together, those groups accounted for 29 percent of respondents, nearly matching the 31 percent who correctly placed the share below 1 percent.
The NCAA barred transgender women from competing in women’s sports in February 2025, following an executive order President Donald Trump issued near the start of his second term.
Before that policy change, NCAA President Charlie Baker testified before a Senate panel in 2024 that fewer than 10 trans athletes, out of more than 510,000 athletes nationwide, were competing in NCAA events.
Watch Rapinoe’s full conversation with Bell below.
