- The Washington Times - Thursday, September 8, 2016

U.S. women soccer star Megan Rapinoe called the Washington Spirit’s move to frustrate her Colin Kapernick plans at Wednesday night’s game “f*&^ing unbelievable” and blamed the Spirit’s actions on homophobia.

Ms. Rapinoe had knelt during “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the Seattle Reign’s previous game in a gesture of support for the San Francisco 49ers quarterback.

She had said she would do it again, but the Spirit stopped that plan by playing the anthem before the players made it onto the field.

After the game, Ms. Rapinoe went ballistic, especially angry at the implication that her kneeling protest was a hijacking of the anthem-playing.

“It’s f*&^ing unbelievable. Saddened by it. I think that it’s pretty clear what the message is that I’m trying to bring to light,” she said, according to Black and Red United, the SB Nation blog for Washington’s pro soccer teams.

“I think it’s a necessary conversation,” she continued. “I think it was incredibly distasteful to say that I, four days before one of the worst tragedies we’ve had in our countries, to say that I ’hijacked’ this event.”

Team owner Bill Lynch, a veteran who had lost friends in wars, said in a statement issued shortly after the kickoff that the team “decided to play the anthem in our stadium ahead of schedule rather than subject out fans and friends to the disrespect we feel such an act would represent.”

But Ms. Rapinoe detected another motive when asked by reporters whether homophobia played a role in the Spirit’s move.

“I do. Yes, I do,” she said, going on to call Mr. Lynch “homophobic,” while still acknowledging she couldn’t be certain if the snub of her was centered on that. Ms. Rapinoe is a lesbian.

She took it a step further and suggested the Spirit’s leadership is homophobic.

“I’ve had conversations with Spirit players both current and past. The fact that they don’t have a Pride night and they have gay players on their team as well as everything else, they’ve made it pretty clear at least internally that that’s not something they’re interested in, which is homophobic to me,” she said.

• Victor Morton can be reached at vmorton@washingtontimes.com.

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