Beyond her support for equal pay, Rapinoe has been a forceful advocate for racial justice throughout her career. An early supporter of Colin Kaepernick, Rapinoe knelt for the national anthem during a USWNT game in 2016 and faced immediate criticism for it.
"I think it's actually pretty disgusting the way [Kaepernick] was treated . . . We need to have a more thoughtful, two-sided conversation about racial issues in this country," she told American Soccer Now at the time. As part of the LGBTQ+ community, she continued, "I know what it means to look at the flag and not have it protect all of your liberties. It was something small that I could do and something that I plan to keep doing in the future and hopefully spark some meaningful conversation around it. It's important to have white people stand in support of people of color on this."
In 2017, US Soccer banned players from kneeling during the national anthem. Rapinoe was left off the national team roster for over six months after she knelt during the anthem, though Coach Jill Ellis said it was performance-related. US Soccer ultimately repealed the rule in 2021.
