When last week’s election resulted in Joe Biden becoming President-elect, a couple of world champion LGBTQ athletes celebrated by publicly rethinking their opposition to visiting The White House.
During the USWNT’s run to the 2019 World Cup, Megan Rapinoe famously declared “I’m not going to the fucking White House.” This led to a news brouhaha and inevitably, Donald Trump attacked the eventual Golden Boot winner on Twitter, proclaiming she should “WIN before she TALKS!”
Instead of visiting The White House after returning home triumphant, the USWNT enjoyed a parade up New York City’s Canyon of Heroes and was invited by Congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ayanna Pressley to tour the House of Representatives.
A little over a year after both winning and talking, Rapinoe tweeted out the following message in the wake of Biden’s victory:
Get off the sidelines and into the game
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Update: I can’t get to the f**king White House fast enough now!!! 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/1Ep6phHxXE
— Megan Rapinoe (@mPinoe) November 7, 2020
During that same summer of 2019, the Washington Mystics won the WNBA Finals. They did not receive a White House invitation or even an acknowledgement from Trump.
A few years prior, Mystics standouts Natasha Cloud and Elena Delle Donne had criticized the president in a Washington Post feature. Cloud summed up the team’s stance by declaring:
“If we were to win the championship, we would not go to The White House. I don’t support [Trump’s] views. I don’t support his political views, his human rights views. So no, I’m not going to be fake.”
Now that Biden will become America’s 46th Commander in Chief in January, Cloud has also asked for another chance to celebrate in the Oval Office:
@JoeBiden I know your busy becoming president and have a crazy schedule ahead with Covid, our economy, racial and gender equity, LGBTQ+, etc….
— Natasha Cloud (@T_Cloud4) November 8, 2020
But like just wondering ….can we make up our whitehouse visit with you!? @WashMystics @coachthibault 🤔🤷🏽♀️
As two of the most socially conscious athletes in the world of sports, both Rapinoe and Cloud understand that Biden will have a lot on his plate from the moment he’s inaugurated.
But as they’ve also made clear, if he feels like stepping away for a moment to celebrate some champions, they will be happy to be seen with him.