BY OLIVER HAUG
The NWSL player popped the question on the soccer field.
Trans soccer star Kumi Yokoyama is officially engaged to their girlfriend after an on-field proposal last week.
Yokoyama posted several pictures of their proposal to their girlfriend, Nami, on Twitter last Monday, along with a celebratory message: “She said ‘YES!’” The proposal, which took place on the couple’s anniversary, was staged at Washington, D.C.’s Audi Field, where Yokoyama plays for the National Women’s Soccer League’s Washington Spirit.
Yokoyama, who also plays for the Japanese National Team, came out as trans this past June in a video conversation with former teammate Yuki Nagasato, as them. previously reported. At the time, the 28-year-old expressed the desire to someday quit soccer and “live as a man.”
The athlete also expressed that playing soccer in the U.S. had played a role in their decision to come out and that their partner had given them the courage to do so.
“I’ve dated several women over the years but I had to stay closeted in Japan,” they said. “In Japan, I’d always be asked if I had a boyfriend, but here, I’m asked if I have a boyfriend or girlfriend.”
“When my girlfriend said there was no reason for me to stay closeted, it really hit me,” they added. “Coming out wasn’t something I was enthusiastic about, but if I think about my life going forward, it would be harder to live closeted, so I found the courage to come out.”
Yokoyama’s coming out even got them a congratulations from the president himself. “Because of you, countless kids around the world are seeing themselves in a new light today,” Joe Biden wrote on Twitter, simultaneously congratulating Las Vegas Raiders player Carl Nassib, who made National Football League history by coming out as gay in June.
Yokoyama is the second NWSL player to come out as trans after Quinn, who plays for the OL Reign as well as the Canadian national team, came out last year. Quinn recently became the first openly trans player to compete on an Olympic stage this past July in Tokyo, where they took home the first-ever medal — a gold — for a trans Olympian.
In their coming-out video, Yokoyama mentioned being inspired by Quinn in their decision to be open about their trans identity.
“I realized that it was what taking action looks like. To be able to accept people you have no relationship with, that's the kind of person I would like to become, and I hope we can create that society,” they said, referencing recent photos of Quinn in a “protect trans kids” sweatshirt. The phrase references the conservative-backed slate of legislation seeking to ban transgender youth from playing sports and accessing medical care.
Despite these ongoing attacks, players like Quinn and Yokoyama — along with the multiple trans and nonbinary athletes who competed in the Olympics this year — affirm that trans people do belong in sports.
Congrats to the happy couple!
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