LA Galaxy player Robbie Rogers kicked off the Major League Soccer season last month with a start and a win against the team – the Chicago Fire – that traded him to the Galaxy in 2013. With a reshuffled deck – in part after losing Landon Donovan to retirement – the Galaxy have a win and two ties in their first five matches.
Yet soccer isn’t the only thing on Rogers’ mind these days. Last year he penned a widely read op-ed for USA Today about the FIFA World Cup headed to two anti-gay hosts – Russia and Qatar – in 2018 and 2022. In the latest issue of GQ Rogers says he isn’t interested in just talking about the issues, he wants to do something about it and help FIFA become more LGBT-friendly in its positions and policies.
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Well, so many people picked it up, which was great, but now the difficult thing is to figure out what to do next. I didn't write the article just to write the article. I want to actually do something about this. But I also want to be realistic. I know that it's going to be almost impossible to change venues at this point. So my goal is to create a dialogue with FIFA and convince them to create guidelines for how they choose countries to host the World Cup going forward, so that they only pick countries that ensure the safety of all the athletes and all the fans.
It certainly seems Rogers is finding his path between being an elite soccer player and an advocate for the LGBT community. It's a similar journey that Brittney Griner is on right now. If they're part of the proactive future of this movement, we're in good shape.
Meanwhile, it's clear from the GQ photo spread that Rogers is in very good shape…
