Soccer player Rebecca Quinn has come out as transgender in a heartfelt Instagram post.
Quinn, 25, wrote that “coming out is HARD (and kinda bs)” in a post yesterday. “For me it’s something I’ll be doing over again for the rest of my life,” they wrote.
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They also wrote that they use “they/them” pronouns in their Instagram profile.
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Quinn won a bronze medal at the 2016 Olympic games with the Canadian team and played in the 2019 Women’s World Cup, making them one of the world’s most prominent out transgender athletes.
In their post, Quinn wrote that they have “lived as an openly trans person with the people I love most for many years, I did always wonder when I’d come out publicly.”
And they’re coming out now because they “want to be visible to queer folx who don’t see people like them on their feed.”
In their coming out post, Quinn said that cisgender people should try to be better allies to trans people by practicing “they” pronouns in the mirror, voting, putting their pronouns in their online profiles, and following trans people on social media.
Quinn was already out as queer for years, according to OutSports. They were one of 40 out LGBTQ athletes who participated in the Women’s World Cup last year and have been open about their relationship with women.
Earlier this year, Quinn participated in Playing for Pride, a campaign to raise awareness about LGBTQ people in sports. In a video announcing their participation, they called out “the policing of trans bodies” and said that more work needs to be done to fight racism, homophobia, and transphobia in sports.
“Black people in the LGBTQ community face disproportionate levels of violence and discrimination,” saying that athletes need to “amplify the voices of our fellow Black, LGBTQ athletes and discuss topics with intersectional lenses.”
