In this week’s DIVA Dating Digest, we look at this power couple’s love story
BY ELLA GAUCI, IMAGE VIA INSTAGRAM (@MRAPINOE)
If you want to Google the definition of a power couple, it’s likely that a picture of Megan Rapinoe and Sue Bird would come up.
Megan Rapinoe is one of the most influential LGBTQIA soccer players out there, and has been an advocate for queer communities both on and off the pitch. She helped take the United States to the World Cup trophy in 2019 among many other wins.
Her fiancee, Sue Bird, is also an established and talented athlete, having played professional basketball for the Seattle Storm. Sue is considered one of the greatest players in WNBA history and has too many accolades for us to even begin to name here!
So, how did this pair meet? And more importantly, fall in love?
August 2016: Megan Rapinoe and Sue Bird meet at the Olympics
For two professional athletes, it seems only fitting that they met at the 2016 Olympics. The pair crossed paths when Sue was getting ready to play. Megan told NBC Sports, “She was in her basketball uniform and she had her hair down.”
According to Sue, Megan said: “Oh, hey! Ready for your game?” And the rest is history…
2017: Sue Bird comes out as gay
Megan Rapinoe has been out since 2012, coming out in a heartfelt and candid interview with Out magazine. After Megan and Sue began dating, the basketball legend decided that it was time to come out.
The WNBA star told ESPNW: “I’m gay. Megan’s my girlfriend. … These aren’t secrets to people who know me. I don’t feel like I’ve not lived my life. I think people have this assumption that if you’re not talking about it, you must be hiding it, like it’s this secret. That was never the case for me.”
June 2018: The pair pose for ESPN The Magazine’s Body Issue
In a landmark moment, Megan and Sue posed nude together for ESPN The Magazine’s Body Issue making them the first same-sex couple to grace the cover of the magazine.
In their interview for the magazine, Megan said: “I think it’s important to do these things first. It’s important for people to come out. Visibility is important. I feel like [there are] a lot of negative ideas that hopefully I can break down just by being myself.”
October 2019: Megan gushes about Sue
In an interview with PEOPLE magazine, Megan gave the cutest interview about being a WAG. “We are huge fans of each other. I have become, like, a Seattle Storm number one superfan, of course,” Megan said. “Neither of us are jealous or weird about each other’s careers. We are just kind of there to support each other.”
October 30, 2020: Megan Rapinoe and Sue Bird get engaged
We squealed out of queer joy when we saw that Megan and Sue had agreed to tie the knot. Posting a captionless Instagram when Megan is down on one knee, the pair finally got en-gay-ed!
While the couple is taking the wedding planning slowly, we cannot wait to see the pair walking down the aisle.
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