Recently retired USWNT midfielder Megan Rapinoe responded strongly on Wednesday to anti-LGBTQ content reposted on TikTok this past week by new USWNT midfielder Korbin Albert.
“Wake TF up,” Rapinoe wrote in part in an Instagram story on her personal account, addressing the note to “the people who want to hide behind ‘my beliefs’” and saying that “all you believe in is hate.”
When asked for comment by The Athletic, Rapinoe said the post was in response to Albert’s social media activity but stressed that her focus is on the queer lives at stake, whether they be at risk through anti-trans commentary online or targeted legislation. She also wanted to share her specific concerns about how online discussions around trans people have real-world — and often dangerous — consequences.
She signed off her note on Instagram, “For all my trans homies enduring this horrific treatment day in and day out, I see you and hear you and I am WITH YOU.”
Albert had previously reposted on her TikTok account a sermon given in a Christian worship space talking about how being gay and “feeling transgender” is wrong. Those reposts and others were resurfaced online earlier this week.
On Thursday following her Champions League match with club team Paris Saint-Germain, Albert posted an apology to her Instagram account.
“I want to sincerely apologize for my actions on social media,” she wrote in part. “Liking and sharing posts that are offensive, insensitive and hurtful was immature and disrespectful which was never my intent.”
The U.S. Soccer Federation, PSG and representatives for Albert did not respond to requests for comment.
Who is Korbin Albert, and what did she post?
Albert, 20, is a midfielder with French Ligue 1 Femenin club Paris Saint-Germain and has been a recent call-up to the USWNT squad starting with friendlies at the end of 2023. She was most recently a regular starter during the U.S.’s winning run at the inaugural W Gold Cup and was included in the USWNT roster for the SheBelieves Cup, a series of two friendlies that kick April 6.
The videos that were publicly shared by Albert include a sermon given in a Christian worship space talking about how being gay and “feeling transgender” is wrong. The activity garnered widespread attention from women’s soccer fans, but it was not out of the ordinary on Albert’s profile.
Among the posts that Albert created on her TikTok profile was one from 2023’s Fourth of July weekend, showing her family taking turns stating that “their pronouns are U.S.A.,” with Korbin participating in the video. The post no longer appears on her profile as of Thursday afternoon.
Fans had previously surfaced one of Korbin’s likes on Instagram via a screencap, with a post from a meme account that read “God taking time off performing miracles to make sure Megan Rapinoe sprains her ankle in her final ever game.” The screencap shows Albert’s Instagram handle, though as of March 28, the original post appears to have been deleted entirely. It is unclear when it was posted on Instagram.
Albert and Rapinoe have both worn the No. 15 jersey for the USWNT. (Photo by Harry How, Getty Images)
Albert currently wears the No. 15 jersey for the United States, which was made available when Rapinoe retired from playing professionally last fall. USWNT players select their jersey numbers based on seniority.
Albert started for PSG in its Champions League game against BK Häcken on Thursday, scoring her team’s second goal in the 70th minute. PSG advanced to the next round of the Champions League with the win, where it will face Lyon and USWNT teammate Lindsey Horan in the semifinal.
Following the match, she posted her apology.
“I’m really disappointed in myself and am deeply sorry for the hurt that I have caused to my teammates, other players, fans, friends and anyone who was offended,” she wrote. “I truly believe that everyone should feel safe and respected everywhere and on all playing fields. I know my actions have not lived up to that and for that I sincerely apologize. It’s an honor and a privilege to play this sport on the world stage and I promise to do better.”
How did Megan Rapinoe respond?
On Thursday, Rapinoe posted her reaction to Albert’s reposts via an Instagram story, which read: “To the people who want to hide behind ‘my beliefs’ I would just ask one question, are you making any time of space safer, more inclusive, more whole, any semblance of better, bringing the best out of anyone? … because if you aren’t all you believe in is hate. And Kids are literally killing themselves because of this hate. Wake TF up! Yours Truly, #15.”
Rapinoe’s longtime USWNT teammate Becky Sauerbrunn reshared the post on Thursday, captioning it, “Well said.” Other former teammates also shared the post, including Lynn Williams, Sam Mewis and Kristie Mewis.
Rapinoe retired from the USWNT, with her final match coming in September 2023. In her final match as a professional, the 2023 NWSL championship, Rapinoe was forced to exit early in the first half after tearing her Achilles.
Rapinoe retired from professional soccer after last season. (Photo by Meg Oliphant, Getty Images)
Rapinoe has an extensive history of supporting the trans community, including opposing federal legislation proposed in 2023 titled the “Protection of Girls and Women in Sports Act,” which would have banned transgender and intersex women and girls from women’s sports.
“So much of this trans inclusion argument has been put through the extremely tiny lens of elite sports,” Rapinoe told Time Magazine in 2022. “Like that is not the way that we need to be framing this question. We’re talking about kids. We’re talking about people’s lives. We’re talking about the entire state government coming down on one child in some states, three children in some states. They are committing suicide, because they are being told that they’re gross and different and evil and sinful and they can’t play sports with their friends that they grew up with. Not to mention trying to take away health care. I think it’s monstrous.”
Has the USWNT previously addressed LGBTQ+ rights?
The USWNT has previously supported trans rights, both on an individual basis — especially long-time captain Becky Sauerbrunn — and as a collective. In the final game of the 2022 SheBelieves Cup, held in Texas, players all wore taped wristbands with the words “Protect Trans Kids.” The action came on the same day that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called for state employees to report the parents of trans children to Texas authorities, and referred to “elective procedures for gender transitioning” as “child abuse.”
Sauerbrunn also wrote an opinion piece for a Missouri newspaper in support of allowing trans girls and women to play sports, opposing a proposed “Save Women’s Sports Act.” She is an ambassador for Athlete Ally, a nonprofit LGBTQ+ advocacy group.
— U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team (@USWNT) February 16, 2023
Since 2017, both the USMNT and USWNT have shown their support for the LGBTQ+ community by sporting rainbow numbers and captain’s armbands for matches played during Pride Month, which takes place in June in the United States.
The USWNT has two games against South Korea scheduled this Pride Month, with Emma Hayes’ first games in charge taking place on June 1 and 4 in Denver and Saint Paul, respectively.
Is there any precedent for this situation?
It calls to mind the case of Jaelene Daniels (née Hinkle), who largely stopped appearing with the USWNT after expressing anti-LGBTQ+ beliefs she said were rooted in her religion.
However, there are significant differences between the two situations. Hinkle was named to a USWNT roster in 2017, two years after she posted: “This world is falling farther and farther away from God… All that can be done by believers is to continue to pray” moments after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples had the legal right to marry.
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Daniels then declined to appear in those matches because they took place during Pride Month, with the team set to wear rainbow numbers for the first time for those games.
Daniels revealed her decision to reject the 2017 USWNT call in an interview with The 700 Club, saying “I felt so convicted in my spirit that it wasn’t my job to wear this jersey.”
Albert, by contrast, has not declined a call-up to the USWNT and has not publicly expressed any desire to do so. She is expected to report to USWNT camp next week for the SheBelieves Cup.
Daniels continued to receive call-ups to the senior USWNT after 2017, including to a training camp for the 2018 Tournament of Nations under former head coach Jill Ellis, where she was cut when the tournament roster was named.
Daniels also chose to sit out a Pride Match for the North Carolina Courage, her club team, in 2022 after the Courage chose to re-sign her despite considerable pushback from fans.
What’s next?
It’s unclear if U.S. Soccer will address Albert’s social media activity, but she has been named to the SheBelieves Cup roster. The first match will be played in Atlanta on April 6.
On Tuesday, the Georgia Senate passed House Bill 1104, originally intended to provide mental health resources for young student-athletes, but which now includes language that bans transgender girls from competing on girls’ public school teams, and bans them from locker rooms that match their gender identity as well.
U.S. Soccer will also break ground on the federation’s new national training center and headquarters in Fayette County, Ga., on April 8.
(Photo: Brad Smith/Getty Images for USSF)
