July 7, 2019: The U.S. women's national soccer team wins the Women's World Cup, beating the Netherlands in the Final, 2-0 at Parc Olympique Lyonnais in Décines-Charpieu, in the suburbs of Lyon, France.
The Dutch women's team had recently risen to the same level of talent as their legendary men's team. So their appearance in the Final, as one of a few teams that were seen as possibilities for it before the tournament began, was not exactly a surprise. Certainly, the Americans reaching it was no surprise at all: It would have been a shock if they hadn't.
The U.S. team had won the Women's World Cup in 1999. They had also done so in 1991, the 1st time the tournament was held, but few people noticed. In 1999, it was nationally televised and heavily promoted, and people noticed.
That 1999 U.S. women's soccer team shocked Middle America's ignorant male sports fans, because this was a great women's sports team that wasn't a bunch of stereotypical butch lesbians. They all seemed to look feminine, even attractive. Many of them were married. Some of them had returned to competition after having children, even taking their babies and their diaper bags to practice.
It would take until 2015 for the U.S. team to win the World Cup again, and this time, some of the women were lesbians, and they didn't give a damn who knew it. In 2019, they repeated. Carli Lloyd, the biggest star of the '15 team, was older and didn't have as much of an impact in '19. She's straight and married. But the best player on the team was Alex Morgan: Gorgeous, straight, married, and, as the year came to a close, pregnant. (Her husband, former MLS player Servando Carrasco, was a classmate of hers at the University of California at Berkeley. Their daughter, Charlie Elena Carrasco, was born on May 7, 2020).
But the unquestioned leader, the queen of this court, was Megan Rapinoe, who converted a penalty for the 1st U.S. goal in the Final, and then made the pose seen in the photo above. Celebrating her 30th birthday during the tournament, the native of Redding, California is gay, has been out since 2012, usually has a short pink hairstyle, and is well aware of what her performance and example can mean, to men and women, to straights and gays, to supporters and haters. She's supported causes from LGBT rights to Colin Kaepernick's protest. And when establishment figures objected, she didn't care. She pissed off people who deserved to get pissed off.
In December 2019, Rapinoe became the 1st openly gay person to be named Sportsperson of the Year by Sports Illustrated magazine. (Billie Jean King was named in 1972, but she wasn't out yet.) That same month, her national side teammates Ashlyn Harris and Ali Krieger married each other, with Rapinoe as maid of honor. #LesbianTwitter called it "the Royal Wedding." At the time, they both played for a team named for the struggle for gay rights: The Orlando Pride. They adopted a daughter, Sloane, in 2021.
Rapinoe has been in a relationship with WNBA star Sue Bird since 2016, and they have been engaged since 2020. As of July 7, 2022, they have not yet gotten married. On that day, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Joe Biden. (Donald Trump certainly wouldn't have given it to her.) Another athlete was honored that same day, another Olympic Gold Medalist: Gymnast Simone Biles. (Since Biles is black and female, Trump wouldn't have given it to her, either.)
UPDATE: Rapinoe and Bird never did get married, and separated in 2026. Harris and Krieger adopted a 2nd child, a son named Ocean, but divorced in 2023. Harris began dating actress Sophia Bush, while Krieger began dating Scottish footballer Jean Beattie.
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July 7, 2019 was a Sunday. Since the event in question was a soccer game, I'll mention that there were 3 games played that day in Major League Soccer:
* The New York Red Bulls played Atlanta United to a 3-3 draw at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
* New York City F.C. lost to the Portland Timbers, 1-0 at Yankee Stadium.
* And the Philadelphia Union played Orlando City to a 2-2 draw at Talen Energy Stadium (now Subaru Park) outside Philadelphia in Chester, Pennsylvania.
These Major League Baseball games were played that day:
* The New York Yankees lost to the Tampa Bay Rays, 2-1 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg. The Yankees only got 5 hits, including a solo home run from Brett Gardner.
* The New York Mets lost to the Philadelphia Phillies, 8-3 at Citi Field.
* The Washington Nationals beat the Kansas City Royals, 5-2 at Nationals Park in Washington.
* The Atlanta Braves beat the Miami Marlins, 4-3 at SunTrust Park (now Truist Park) in the Atlanta suburb of Cumberland, Georgia.
* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Baltimore Orioles, 6-1 at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.
* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 6-5 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh.
* The Cleveland Indians beat their in-State rivals, the Cincinnati Reds, 11-1 at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati.
* The Boston Red Sox beat the Detroit Tigers, 6-3 at Comerica Park in Detroit.
* The Chicago White Sox beat their intra-City rivals, the Chicago Cubs, 3-1 at Guaranteed Rate Field (now Rate Field).
* The Texas Rangers beat the Minnesota Twins, 4-1 at Target Field in Minneapolis. Rougned Odor won the game with a 3-run home run in the top of the 11th inning.
* The Houston Astros beat the Los Angeles Angels, 11-10 at Minute Maid Park in Houston. George Springer singled home the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning.
* The Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Colorado Rockies, 5-3 at Chase Field in Phoenix.
* The San Diego Padres beat their arch-rivals, the Los Angeles Dodgers, 5-3 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.
* The San Francisco Giants beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 1-0 at Oracle Park in San Francisco. The only run came on a home run by Evan Longoria in the 7th inning.
* And the Oakland Athletics beat the Seattle Mariners, 7-4 at Safeco Field (now T-Mobile Park) in Seattle.
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