From the ACLU, this is at Liberty.

I'm Emerson Sykes, a staff attorney here at the ACLU and your host.

A quick note to listeners.

Today's episode was recorded on Friday, March 13th.

The interview is taking place outside of our office due to our

mandatory work from home policy during the unfolding coronavirus pandemic. We take seriously

the safety of our staff and the guests on our podcast. Megan Rapino is a superstar soccer

player who's become a global icon for her breathtaking play, her purple pink hair, and her

bold activism. She's a World Cup champion, Olympic gold medalist, and co-captain of the U.S.

women's national soccer team. She's also kneeled during the national anthem in solidarity

with Colin Kaepernick and others to protest police brutality, and she's spoken out

in favor of many other progressive causes. Now, she and her U.S. women's national team teammates

are demanding equal pay with their male counterparts, and they've taken the issue to court.

We'll discuss the latest with this important pay equity lawsuit, the roots of Megan's activism, and what it's like to score a game-winning goal in the World Cup final. Also, disclaimer to listeners, that I'm a lifelong soccer player and fan in this interview is a dream come true. I'll do my best to hold it together. Megan Rapino, thanks very much for joining us. Welcome to the podcast. Thank you for having me on. I'm so excited to be here.

First off, just want to check in. How are you holding up? I know it's a crazy time for all of us,

but I know athletes do a lot of traveling and a lot of interacting with big crowds. Just want to

check in. How are you holding up? I'm holding up well. It is indeed crazy times.

Actually, Kristen, my team said it best. She's like, I feel like we need to be taking lots of precautions, but not panicking. And there's a little bit of the opposite happening. So I'm just trying to be a responsible citizen. All my appearances have been canceled. All of the social gatherings that I have have been canceled. I'm just kind of

pulling up and taking it day by day and trying to do what I can to stop the spread.

Well, yes, and as we noted, this is a remote connection for the podcast in order to lower the risk

as much as we possibly can. But I have to ask, one of the things that's been proposed,

most leagues have now suspended their play, but one of the sort of intermediate proposals is playing

...