Megan Rapinoe

I'm a pretty open book, so not being out publicly felt inauthentic. Hopefully we can get to a point where your personal life isn't anybody else's business, but until then, it's less about people having to know about your sexuality than standing up for what's right and fighting for equality.

One of the U.S. Soccer Federation's points is that it's an honour and a privilege to to play for this country, and it is. But we also represent the entire country, and the idea of liberty and justice isn't afforded to everyone.

Some guy in Germany has my face tattooed on the back of his calf. That was wild. It was a decent tattoo job, but that's kind of weird for me.

I do wish, when I was younger, that I knew that I was gay. It would have made things a lot clearer for me. Really. Looking back on it, it was so obvious, but it never really dawned on me. Socially, I felt like I didn't know how to be and who to be. If I had known back then, it would have given me more self-confidence.

There are plenty of sports teams that say they're very open and super accepting in the locker room. But are they really? Is it really a safe environment? Have they preset that environment to make these players feel comfortable for coming out? I don't think so because there's none out.

I think I have unique qualities that other people don't have that can contribute to the team.

I think the national team is more like a traveling circus. It's hard to get that translation into the NWSL teams.

Maybe you're not having a thousand times more injuries, but there's an aspect to the purity of the game and the quality of the game that is played on grass that is different on turf.

I just think gay men are looked at much less favorably than gay women. If you look at the overall stereotype, lesbians are sexy, and gay men are disgusting. Girl and girl is fine, and guy and guy seems to just be something completely different.

It's really obvious that we have very serious inequality in this country across many different spectrums. Yes, we can talk about the form of protest or the way it's done or this or that. But it's still not really the conversation that I think we desperately need to have more of in this country.

When I take a knee, I am facing the flag with my full body, staring straight into the heart of our country's ultimate symbol of freedom - because I believe it is my responsibility, just as it is yours, to ensure that freedom is afforded to everyone in this country.

I need to feel like I have that freedom to make mistakes and to just try things.