Megan Rapinoe says she lost brand deal after AI software flagged her trans allyship as ‘risk’
Megan Rapinoe (Getty Images)
Megan Rapinoe has revealed that a brand pulled her from a World Cup advertisement after AI software flagged her support for transgender rights as a “risk”.
The women’s football star made the claim in a 13 July op-ed for Marie Claire condemning anti-trans legislation passed under the guise of “protecting girls”.
She said the brand had used AI software to assess the “risk” of potential talent, and that hers was flagged. “Mine was that I spoke in support of trans rights,” she wrote.
“Anti-inclusion politicians have made the conversation around trans athletes in sports so muddied and full of false fearmongering that brands lacking moral clarity are running from mere association.”
Rapinoe, who split from partner Sue Bird in April, argued that the right’s focus on trans athletes is a distraction from issues causing real harm to the women and girls they claim to protect, pointing to abortion bans and attacks on reproductive healthcare.
“The truth is, trans people have been competing in sports for decades, and will continue to participate as this smoke screen from bad faith legislators and anti-LGBT groups cloak the real damage being done,” she wrote. “As with so many other manufactured issues we fall for, women and girls will suffer the most.”
Her comments follow the Supreme Court’s decision on 30 June to leave state-level bans on trans athletes in place.
Rapinoe also cited a ballot measure in her home state of Washington, Measure I-638, due to be voted on in November, which would require all girls to be medically certified to play sports and could subject girls, but not boys, to invasive genital exams.
“These laws are some of the most intense political assaults on LGBTQ+ people in recent years, and they are turning back the clock on our rights, including revived threats against marriage equality,” she concluded.
“These policies make all girls and women less safe. They create new ways to question and control women and girls, and that affects all of us.”
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