The Bobcat Nation

Posted: **Wed Oct 26, 2005 9:51 am**

Three-time MVP 'tired of having to hide my feelings'By LZ Granderson
ESPN The Magazine

Calling life in the closet "miserable," three-time Olympic gold medalist and reigning WNBA MVP Sheryl Swoopes announced she is gay in an exclusive interview in the current issue of ESPN The Magazine.

"My reason for coming out isn't to be some sort of hero," Swoopes, a forward with the Houston Comets, says in the article. "I'm just at a point in my life where I'm tired of having to pretend to be somebody I'm not. I'm tired of having to hide my feelings about the person I care about. About the person I love.

“ I'm just at a point in my life where I'm tired of having to pretend to be somebody I'm not. I'm tired of having to hide my feelings about the person I care about. About the person I love. ”
— Sheryl Swoopes

"Male athletes of my caliber probably feel like they have a lot more to lose than gain [by coming out]. I don't agree with that. To me, the most important thing is happiness."

Swoopes, 34, is the most recognizable athlete, male or female, to come out in a team sport. Former WNBA player Michele Van Gorp, who played for the Minnesota Lynx, publicly acknowledged she is a lesbian in July 2004. Before Van Gorp, former Liberty player Sue Wicks had been the only member of a female professional team to publicly come out while still playing. Previously, Swoopes has said she plans to continue her career.

Former NFL defensive tackle Esera Tuaolo and MLB outfielder Billy Bean made headlines when they revealed they were gay, but both were retired when they made their announcements and neither had a career that comes close to Swoopes.

After being named NJCAA Player of the Year while at South Plains Junior College in 1991, Swoopes transferred to Texas Tech and two years later scored a NCAA title game-record 47 points in leading the Lady Raiders to the national championship. Swoopes was named the Final Four's Most Outstanding Player to go along with her national player of the year award. In 1994 she won gold at the Goodwill Games, and, in 1996, was a member of the Olympic gold medal-winning team that became the building block for the WNBA.

Since then, she has won two more Olympic gold medals, four WNBA championships and three regular-season MVP accolades, including this past summer. Swoopes, a five-time All-WNBA First Team honoree who was the All-Star MVP this past season, is also the first female athlete to have a shoe named after her, Nike's Air Swoopes.

"Some people might say my coming out after just winning the MVP award is heroic, and I understand that," she says. "And I know there are going to be some negative things said, too. But it doesn't change who I am. I can't help who I fall in love with. No one can."

In the article, Swoopes goes on to talk about her three-year marriage, her 8-year-old son, Jordan, and life with her partner, former Old Dominion basketball coach Alisa Scott.

"Discovering I'm gay just sort of happened much later in life," Swoopes says. "Being intimate with [Alisa] or any other woman never entered my mind. At the same time, I'm a firm believer that when you fall in love with somebody, you can't control that."

The news could be particularly perplexing for the WNBA, which has struggled to both recognize the homosexual element connected to its league and grow its fan base. Ironically, in its infancy, the WNBA marketed a pregnant, married Swoopes to put a heterosexual face on its promotional campaign. Now the league, which will play its 10th season next summer, has to decide what to do now that one of its best and most recognizable players has announced she's gay.

"The talk about the WNBA being full of lesbians is not true," Swoopes says. "There are as many straight women in the league as there are gay. What really irritates me is when people talk about football, baseball and the NBA, you don't hear all of this talk about the gay guys playing. But when you talk about the WNBA, then it becomes an issue. Sexuality and gender don't change anyone's performance on the court."

http://sports.espn.go.com/wnba/news/story?id=2203853

Next they are going to discover lesbian WPGA Players!

Posted: **Wed Oct 26, 2005 10:17 am**

i feel for her kid - hes going to be in for a circus

Posted: **Wed Oct 26, 2005 10:28 am**

True. It's a shame that the government won't let him be a part of a complete married and loving family, isn't it? Why does the government hate families?

Seriously, though, I know you are reciting your required line, so I had to recite mine, but I don't think the kid really has too much to worry about. At least, no more than any other kid of divorced celebrity parents.

Posted: **Wed Oct 26, 2005 10:33 am**

Bay Area Cat wrote:True. It's a shame that the government won't let him be a part of a complete married and loving family, isn't it? Why does the government hate families?

Seriously, though, I know you are reciting your required line, so I had to recite mine, but I don't think the kid really has too much to worry about. At least, no more than any other kid of divorced celebrity parents.

and i will recite mine one more time....he was in a married family
although to be honest his moms fame makes it a lot harder

Posted: **Wed Oct 26, 2005 10:37 am**

Sheryl Swoopes

Posted: **Wed Oct 26, 2005 10:41 am**

Hell's Bells wrote:
Bay Area Cat wrote:True. It's a shame that the government won't let him be a part of a complete married and loving family, isn't it? Why does the government hate families?

Seriously, though, I know you are reciting your required line, so I had to recite mine, but I don't think the kid really has too much to worry about. At least, no more than any other kid of divorced celebrity parents.
and i will recite mine one more time....he was in a married family
although to be honest his moms fame makes it a lot harder

Yes, but they got divorced (like half of us apparently do at least once). Shouldn't he have a chance to have his mom remarry to once again have a solid, nuclear family? Why do you hate marriage and family values?

Posted: **Wed Oct 26, 2005 10:45 am**

Bay Area Cat wrote:
Hell's Bells wrote:
Bay Area Cat wrote:True. It's a shame that the government won't let him be a part of a complete married and loving family, isn't it? Why does the government hate families?

Seriously, though, I know you are reciting your required line, so I had to recite mine, but I don't think the kid really has too much to worry about. At least, no more than any other kid of divorced celebrity parents.
and i will recite mine one more time....he was in a married family
although to be honest his moms fame makes it a lot harder
Yes, but they got divorced (like half of us apparently do at least once). Shouldn't he have a chance to have his mom remarry to once again have a solid, nuclear family? Why do you hate marriage and family values?

who says that i hate marrige and family values...all i said was that his life was going to be a circus now that his moms lifestyle is in the medias focus *really who cares...*

i think it would be to his benefit for him to be in a solid family - wont be nuclurar

btw wheres the dad in all of this

Posted: **Wed Oct 26, 2005 10:53 am**

Yeah, the "why do you hate..." thing is just a cute little sarcastic figure of speech set against the irony of some of our leader's philosophies.

I'm really just not concerned about the kid -- there are a lot of kids that have a lot more to worry about than he does. He's in a wealthy family and has some amazing genetics on his side. I think he will be just fine. I just think it is funny that people act concerned about any kid who has a parent of two that is gay. The kids turn out just fine -- they just have a few less stereotypes built into their mindset growing up.

Why should we care where the dad is in all of this -- any more than we should care about the kid? None of it should be our concern at all.

Posted: **Wed Oct 26, 2005 10:55 am**

Bay Area Cat wrote:Yeah, the "why do you hate..." thing is just a cute little sarcastic figure of speech set against the irony of some of our leader's philosophies.

I'm really just not concerned about the kid -- there are a lot of kids that have a lot more to worry about than he does. He's in a wealthy family and has some amazing genetics on his side. I think he will be just fine. I just think it is funny that people act concerned about any kid who has a parent of two that is gay. The kids turn out just fine -- they just have a few less stereotypes built into their mindset growing up.

Why should we care where the dad is in all of this -- any more than we should care about the kid? None of it should be our concern at all.

BAC
last think i would hate to see the dad do is to skip out on his responsibilites as a parent and no i am not just talking about child support dollars...children need their fathers

Posted: **Wed Oct 26, 2005 11:07 am**

Hell's Bells wrote:
Bay Area Cat wrote:Yeah, the "why do you hate..." thing is just a cute little sarcastic figure of speech set against the irony of some of our leader's philosophies.

I'm really just not concerned about the kid -- there are a lot of kids that have a lot more to worry about than he does. He's in a wealthy family and has some amazing genetics on his side. I think he will be just fine. I just think it is funny that people act concerned about any kid who has a parent of two that is gay. The kids turn out just fine -- they just have a few less stereotypes built into their mindset growing up.

Why should we care where the dad is in all of this -- any more than we should care about the kid? None of it should be our concern at all.
BAC
last think i would hate to see the dad do is to skip out on his responsibilites as a parent and no i am not just talking about child support dollars...children need their fathers

Well, yeah. But what about this situation makes you concerned about the father any more than the 1,000,000 or so other people that get divorced in the country with kids each year? Granted, deadbeat dads are bad, but I'm not seeing a natural transition from the substance of the article to speculation about whether the father has abandoned his child or is skipping out on child support.

Posted: **Wed Oct 26, 2005 11:20 am**

Bay Area Cat wrote:
Hell's Bells wrote:
Bay Area Cat wrote:Yeah, the "why do you hate..." thing is just a cute little sarcastic figure of speech set against the irony of some of our leader's philosophies.

I'm really just not concerned about the kid -- there are a lot of kids that have a lot more to worry about than he does. He's in a wealthy family and has some amazing genetics on his side. I think he will be just fine. I just think it is funny that people act concerned about any kid who has a parent of two that is gay. The kids turn out just fine -- they just have a few less stereotypes built into their mindset growing up.

Why should we care where the dad is in all of this -- any more than we should care about the kid? None of it should be our concern at all.
BAC
last think i would hate to see the dad do is to skip out on his responsibilites as a parent and no i am not just talking about child support dollars...children need their fathers
Well, yeah. But what about this situation makes you concerned about the father any more than the 1,000,000 or so other people that get divorced in the country with kids each year? Granted, deadbeat dads are bad, but I'm not seeing a natural transition from the substance of the article to speculation about whether the father has abandoned his child or is skipping out on child support.

my bad...the dad is involved still

www.espn.go.com

commentray is already out...

http://sports.espn.go.com/wnba/columns/ ... id=2203893

Yes, it has been known for quite awhile to plenty of people who follow/cover women's hoops that Swoopes, of the Houston Comets, has been in a long-term relationship with a woman. This past summer, after the WNBA All-Star Game, a league beat writer suggested to me that Swoopes seemed very close to going public about it. Then, during the press conference when she received the 2005 regular-season MVP award in September, Swoopes said, "Scotty, thank you for being here, believing in me and having the faith and the confidence in me that I could get the job done."

Posted: **Wed Oct 26, 2005 1:54 pm**

The only thing about this that even slightly interests me is the fact she says she doesn't believe she was born "this way."

Posted: **Wed Oct 26, 2005 2:07 pm**

Ponycat wrote:The only thing about this that even slightly interests me is the fact she says she doesn't believe she was born "this way."

That was interesting to me as well. I'm curious how what she would cite as to what happened to her to cause her to change her entire view on her own sexuality. How exactly did she learn to be gay and come to prefer it over men?

The armchair shrink in me thinks this is her way of rationalizing her earlier decision to be married (in a relationship that was seemingly doomed from the start) and possibly hurting the guy emotionally all because she was in denial about her deeper sexual reality.

Either that, or the wrath of the purple teletubby has struck again!

Posted: **Wed Oct 26, 2005 2:14 pm**

I wonder why she felt the need to "come out of the closet" with a press conference. Couldn't she have just lived her life the way she wanted?

Makes me wonder if this is somehow a publicity stunt. Don't get me wrong, i don't care if she is gay or not (I guess that is the point), why does she feel the need to tell everyone? Given the efforts by the league to sell the league as a non-lesbian league it makes me wonder if this is part of their marketing effort. At least it got the league in the headlines, so if it is a marketing thing at least it succeeded.

Posted: **Wed Oct 26, 2005 2:14 pm**

I'm going with the teletubby thing

Posted: **Wed Oct 26, 2005 2:16 pm**

grizbeer wrote:I wonder why she felt the need to "come out of the closet" with a press conference. Couldn't she have just lived her life the way she wanted?

Makes me wonder if this is somehow a publicity stunt. Don't get me wrong, i don't care if she is gay or not (I guess that is the point), why does she feel the need to tell everyone? Given the efforts by the league to sell the league as a non-lesbian league it makes me wonder if this is part of their marketing effort. At least it got the league in the headlines, so if it is a marketing thing at least it succeeded.

Posted: **Wed Oct 26, 2005 6:17 pm**

Ponycat wrote:I'm going with the teletubby thing

Me too!

Posted: **Sat Oct 29, 2005 9:09 am**

not only wnba players are "coming out" these days

Mr. Sulu Comes Out By Joal Ryan
Fri Oct 28, 3:43 PM ET

George Takei has boldly gone where no Star Trek star has gone before: He's come out.

In so many words.

"You know, it's not really coming out," Takei says in the Nov. 22 issue of the Los Angeles-based gay and lesbian magazine Frontiers (www.FrontiersPublishing.com). "It's more like a long, long walk through what began as a narrow corridor that starts to widen."

In the interview, Takei, forever Mr. Sulu of the U.S.S. Enterprise, notes that he has been "open" about his homosexuality for years--to family, and to friends. "But I have not talked to the press," he says. "In that sense, maybe that's another opening of the corridor there."

Frontiers editor Alexander Cho says Takei's camp initiated the interview with a phone call from a close friend who said the Trek icon, at 68, was ready to talk publicly about his private life.

"I think it's very important," Cho says of Takei's disclosure. "We know his influence far beyond Star Trek."

Key to the story, says Cho, who conducted the interview, is that, in the age of the gay marriage debate, Takei offers "positive images of gay couples." The actor has been in a relationship with Brad Altman, heretofore identified as "my manager" on Takei's Website, for 18 years.

When the time came for Takei to do the interview, Cho says, the sci-fi legend was "most definitely comfortable."

In the magazine, Takei likens going public with his sexuality to overcoming the "shame" he felt for having lived in Japanese-American internment camps during World War II.

"I didn't want to talk about being in an internment camp," Takei says. "They would ask me, where was I? I would say I was far away...But I never went into details."

According to Takei, his attitude changed when he learned what normal was.

"The large popular normality is that rigid, constrained normality," Takei says in Frontiers. "But there's another natural normality. And you come to realize, 'This is who I am. And by gum, I'm not going to let it be a constraint!'"

In the interview, Takei takes a swipe at fellow Hollywood denizen turned California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Takei calls the Terminator a "dangerous politician" for his recent veto of a state gay marriage bill.

Takei faced challenges of the intergalactic variety as the Enterprise's navigator on the original 1966-69 TV series. He went on to appear in the first six big-screen Trek movies.

Last seen in a Starfleet uniform on a 1996 episode of Star Trek: Voyager, Takei currently is starring on the Los Angeles stage in Equus.

The Bobcat Nation

A Lesbian WNBA Player! Who would have ever guessed!

A Lesbian WNBA Player! Who would have ever guessed!