Megan Rapinoe calls Trump’s executive order banning trans athletes ‘depraved’

Former USWNT star Megan Rapinoe took aim at President Donald Trump’s executive order effectively banning transgender athletes from girls’ and women’s sports, calling the act “cruel and depraved.” 

In a recent interview published in MUNDIAL magazine, Rapinoe raised concerns about Trump’s rhetoric surrounding trans people, specifically athletes. 

Megan Rapinoe, #15 of Team United States, lines up prior to the Women’s Football Group G match between United States and Australia during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Kashima Stadium on July 27, 2021 in Kashima, Japan. (Hector Vivas – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)

The interview was conducted the day after Trump signed the “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” executive last month. 

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“Don’t tell me it’s about the rights of women’s sports,” Rapinoe said. “That is totally just 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—-ing on women’s sports. I think we are sort of at that moment.”

The executive order requires entities that receive federal funding to align with Title IX, which the Trump administration changed last month to recognize protections on the basis of biological sex – undoing former President Joe Biden’s 2024 rewrite. 

President Donald Trump, joined by women athletes, signs the “No Men in Women’s Sports” executive order in the East Room at the White House on Feb. 5, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

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Rapinoe, one of Trump’s most outspoken critics, said back in November that she was fearful for the trans community following Trump’s election victory. 

“I feel overwhelmed by the reality that is going to be a Trump presidency, which we have seen before – so I don’t feel like I’m saying anything new – but the reality where like anything crazy could happen any day. I think that is really overwhelming,” Rapinoe said at the time on her podcast, “A Touch More.”

“I think that I feel – not so much personally scared, because I think that we live in very progressive places, we’re unbelievably privileged in our place in the world and life and financially and all of these things, but I think that fear extends to just people in general that will be really affected,” she continued. I’m thinking of all my trans friends and people that I know and trans kids. I’m thinking about the potential of mass deportations if that is going to happen, and just like the general chaos that’s going to be sown is really overwhelming.”

OL Reign forward Megan Rapinoe, #15, talks to the media after the 2023 NWSL Championship match against New Jersey/New York Gotham FC at Snapdragon Stadium. (Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports)

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Rapinoe’s interview on Monday concluded with urging other athletes to use their platforms to speak out. 

“There’s so many ways that we can grow and kind of codify lasting change,” she said. “And I always encourage players specifically to be involved and use their voice. Players, actually, are always the most powerful people in sports.” 

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