Japanese Women’s World Cup star Kumi Yokoyama has come out as a transgender man — one of the few athletes to do so in a country where LGBTQ rights lag behind other developed nations.
Yokoyama, who represented Japan at the 2019 Women’s World Cup and currently plays for National Women’s Soccer League side Washington Spirit, said living in the United States made it easier to be “open” about sexuality and gender.
“Recently, the term LGBTQ has become familiar in Japan, and you see it in the media nowadays,” said the 27-year-old footballer.
“But I thought that if people in my position didn’t speak up, things wouldn’t progress.”
Yokoyama’s message was posted on the YouTube chan…
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