The U.S. Women's National Team is making headlines for their performance on the field with a blowout win over Thailand this week in France during World Cup play. However, team captain and starting forward Megan Rapinoe is making her own news with actions during the American national anthem before recent matches including kneeling in protest of social injustices.
The 33-year-old Rapinoe, who is a native of Redding, California and played for the Elk Grove Pride in the Women's Premier Soccer League from 2002 to 2005, has said she is disappointed in the direction her country is headed since President Trump was elected in 2016.
She is also openly gay and supports several LGBT organizations. In addition, Rapinoe and 27 of her U.S. Women's soccer teammates filed a lawsuit earlier this year against the United States Soccer Federation for what the plaintiffs say is gender discrimination. She has been involved in the fight to ensure equal pay for women over the past three years.
A post on the News 93.1 KFBK Facebook page posed the question of whether Rapinoe's actions on the field are appropriate, while she is representing the United State on a national stage the World Cup. There has been plenty of reaction.
U.S. Soccer issued a statement regarding the protests which seemed to make clear that all players on the men's and women's teams must stand for the anthem, and Rapinoe reportedly agreed to abide by their decision.
That did not put an end to her protests, though. Instead of kneeling during the anthem before Tuesday's match against Thailand she chose to stand motionless and silent while her teammates sang. She later called the policy "cowardly."
This behavior is also nothing new, since Rapinoe began her anthem protests in 2016 after former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s chose to kneel during the national anthem at National Football League games. Kaepernick was protesting what he said was racial discrimination and police brutality against minority groups in America.