Megan Rapinoe comes out

Megan Rapinoe joins Anderson Cooper on today's list of famous figures to officially come out as gay, even if it was pretty common knowledge already in both their cases.

http://www.out.com/entertainment/sports/2012/07/02/megan-rapinoe-womens-soccer-lesbian-girlfriend

I'm glad Rapinoe is confident in her skin and support her 100%. Loved her before, and love her now. It appears her Australian footballer girlfriend is none other than Sarah Walsh. They look like a happy couple.

Also, I agree with her that the double standard between men's and women's sports is sad...hopefully we'll get there where a male player can come out without scrutiny and heckling, but I'm afraid we aren't there yet.

this was put up earlier today, and being commented on in this thread:

http://www.bigsoccer.com/community/threads/news-media-ii-articles-photos-videos-etc.927722/page-5

Ah, so it is. In that case I would delete this thread, but I'm not sure how. Mods?

Quite a while ago, during one of the occasional bubbles about "are there gays in baseball," a reporter asked Mike Mussina of the Yankees if he could "fully accept" a teammate who was gay. Mussina looked at the guy for a minute and said "I'm going to assume I already have."

I'm working with a half a dozen quite young males who played high school sports in the recent past; and none of them is even slightly homophobic. At least, we have another young colleague who, shall we say, displays considerable candlepower in his entire range of behavior-- yet is well liked and well treated by all of them.

I think the change is already here, I think it is just not yet obvious.

Back about 1980 something moved the late John Denver to hold a press conference and announce that at one point in his life he "experimented" with marijuana.

The next day Paul Kantner of the Jefferson Airplane/Starship called his own press conference to announce that Denver's example had inspired him to confess that he too had experimented with the drug, and that some of his songs were even influenced by the experience...

So, you know, we may be shocked by this revelation, but I imagine we'll be able to reconcile it eventually.

Why is this big news? Why is this a topic? just curious because I respect her skill and love watching her play, but the focus becomes something else other soccer why?

not sure why you think it is "big", but it certainly is by definition "news".

and i'm pretty sure the focus is still on soccer.

there is no actual women's football right now?

what else is there to talk about?

I like that most of the comments on the USA Today story are "So what? Why should we care?" Boy, things have changed in just a few years.

Yes, homophobia is no longer in fashion. What consenting adults do is now their own business.

Concern is finally where it should be, and that is what adults in positions of power do to children.

It's not like she's been trying to keep it secret. Here are a couple of tweets from April:

@JudyANelson:
@JimmyConrad_com @mPinoe Noticed her partner prominent in Nike video. Is that a first for Nike? How does she feel about openness?

@mPinoe:
@JudyANelson my partner is not in the video, its my twin sister #rach, and best friend #marion. As for openness, I feel good about it

yet states are denying gay marriage and people still protesting against gays

What happened to her sister?

Well, the "critical injury" was only critical to her soccer career and to the team. Both sisters had two ACL injuries
In college, and Rachael's second was in her senior year.

Thanks, that's a relief. The article made it sound like she was paralyzed in a car accident or something like that.

Agreed. This news isn't a surprising revelation* but it is good that she does not feel the need to hide to keep her career or sponsors.

*I mean, there's been a reason she's spent the last couple of off-seasons in Aussie land...

Yahoo! now has a story.

Well, I was too old for her anyway.....

This only bothers me because I've always dug her, and now it's official: I have no chance.

Probably only a technicality anyway

That's what worries me too: In my experience, "Who cares? Why is this news?" doesn't mean "It's normal, so why talk about it" but "Can we please pretend it doesn't exist".

I'm glad she came out and is proud of who she is. I am a hue fan of her, amazing athlete and skilled player. but to be honest, it's not like we didn't know she was gay

Is Abby lesbian or bisexual because I thought I saw her in 2007 with a boyfriend and then Sarah Huffman? Also I thought Rapinoe's girlfriend was Lori Lindsey?

I don't know about Abby. And no, Lori is rapinoe's best friend, take a look at their ussoccer.com videos. Sarah Walsh, Austrailan football player is Rapinoe's current girlfriend.