(AP) – Setting itself apart from other great American sports teams, the U.S. women’s soccer team is embracing a front-line role in social-justice causes even as it savors a fourth World Cup victory.
The players are now world leaders in the push for gender equity in the workplace, having sued U.S. Soccer Federation for equal pay vis-a-vis the men’s national team.
The team also has become a proud symbol of LGBTQ inclusion, with a lesbian coach and several lesbian players, including World Cup MVP Megan Rapinoe.
They have stood firmly behind Rapinoe after she said she’d refuse to visit the White House if invited by President Donald Trump.
Rapinoe says she feels like the team is changing the world around it, and calls it “an incredible feeling.”