The 2021 WNBA All-Star Game Is The Gayt Profsnal Basketball Game Ever | Autostraddle

Contents:

• CANDICE WIGGS SAYS 98 PERCENT OF WNBA IS GAY, CLAIMS SHE WAS BULLIED FOR BEG STRAIGHT
• THE 77 WNBA PLAYERS THAT HAVE COME OUT AS GAY LBIAN, TRANS OR NON-BARY
• WNBA’S SUE BIRD SAYS WOMEN’S BASKETBALL IS LS POPULAR THAN SOCCER BEE THEY’RE BLACK AND GAY
• WNBA PLAYERS RPOND TO EX-PLAYER'S CLAIMS THAT 98 PERCENT OF LEAGUE IS GAY
• THE 2021 WNBA ALL-STAR GAME IS THE GAYT PROFSNAL BASKETBALL GAME EVER

CANDICE WIGGS SAYS 98 PERCENT OF WNBA IS GAY, CLAIMS SHE WAS BULLIED FOR BEG STRAIGHT

(AP)The WNBA has historilly been the most forward-thkg sports league Ameri when to gay rights. While the WNBA hasn’t always ma the LGBTQ muny proud wh how choos to promote and acmodate s gay players, ’s fair to say that they’ve ma meangful stris. In a new terview wh the San Diego Unn-Tribune, Wiggs says that “98 percent” of the WNBA is gay and that she would have played two more years if not for the “toxic” environment that affected her as a straight woman:“I wanted to play two more seasons of WNBA, but the experience didn’t lend self to my mental state, ” Wiggs said.

THE 77 WNBA PLAYERS THAT HAVE COME OUT AS GAY LBIAN, TRANS OR NON-BARY

“I would say 98 percent of the women the WNBA are gay women. So acrdg to the numbers, I intify as gay now— Deverex Peters (@MsPeters14) Febary 20, 2017It’s tough to asss all of Wiggs’s statements, bee she is ultimately scribg a personal experience that have not yet been refuted. That piece did not feature any explic reference to the prsure of beg straight a very gay ’s difficult to read this piece, then, whout wonrg exactly where Wiggs is g om.

Usg hyperbole to make a pot is not herently wrong, but dog to st a historilly margalized group (gay women, many of whom are also black) as a bullyg force rais ncerns. Not only was their birthday a huge tone for women’s profsnal basketball, but the league’s growth has cid wh a growg acceptance of players that intify as gay, lbian, bisexual and trans. I remember when the WNBA kicked off and though there was an assumptn that there mt have been gay players the league, yet no player was open about their sexualy.

How Many WNBA Players Intify As Gay? Even though some outlets have approximated of the percentage of LGBTQ players the WNBA the real number will always be accurate as long as homophobia exists all ’s forms. The te percentage of WNBA players that intify as gay or lbian will always be termed by how acceptg society of differenc sexualy and genr, and th, how fortable players are of g out of the closet the public eye.

WNBA’S SUE BIRD SAYS WOMEN’S BASKETBALL IS LS POPULAR THAN SOCCER BEE THEY’RE BLACK AND GAY

We piled this list bee we know that the qutn of how many gay WNBA players there are and bee there’s not a lot of reputable rmatn to be had; leads to stereotyp beg perpetuated and biased opns are taken as fact.

We saw the lack of available rearch as an opportuny to provi rmatn that is actually rearched wh the ntext of how culture affects the number of out gay and lbian WNBA players. That’s also te the WNBA where All-Stars Dewanna Bonner and Alyssa Thomas are engaged, former teammat Penny Taylor and Trasi are married, current teammat Allie Quigley and Courtney Vanrsloot have also wed, Natisha Heiman and Jasme Thomas are upled up and Breanna Stewart and Marta Xargay have a child together. To see the percentage of gay and lbian players the WNBA, go here.

All that said beg one of the top players don’t exclu you om experiencg homophobia or the feelgs of fear, anxiety and shame. “Every day walkg down the hallway was like: ‘She’s gay. She’s gay.

WNBA PLAYERS RPOND TO EX-PLAYER'S CLAIMS THAT 98 PERCENT OF LEAGUE IS GAY

Beg bullied, havg feelgs of not beg accepted for beg gay or not fully g out aren’t unique to WNBA players whatsoever. And every WNBA superstar that is out now cludg Augt, Grer, Bird, McCoughtry, Candace Parker, Stewart, Katie Smh, and Jonquel Jon to name a few have all spoke to the glass closet they’re workg agast and homophobia that they’ve experienced that have silenced them. Gay, Black and Female.

We’ve foced on g as gay or lbian and haven’t even approached the subject om the cross sectn of the multiple inti that are at play. By also then intifyg as Gay, Lbian, Bi-Sexual, Queer or Trans Black woman, well that pretty much tak all offers off the table.

Sue Bird dumbed down how racism, sexism, and homophobia together to work agast the WNBA an ESPN terview: “To be pletely blunt, but also kd of simple, soccer players generally are cute ltle whe girls. It’s 70-80% Black women, a lot of gay women. Whether straight or gay, the great thg about the WNAB is that they’re unified their support of one another – not only terms of women’s sports, but genr equy, racial jtice, and issu impactg the LGBTQIA+ muny as all three h very close to home.

THE 2021 WNBA ALL-STAR GAME IS THE GAYT PROFSNAL BASKETBALL GAME EVER

Though there is a lot of ternalized and systemic homophobia the WNBA to unpack and remove, ’s no surprise that the league go big durg Pri month. Women’s Natnal Basketball Associatn (WNBA) player Sue Bird claimed an terview that women’s basketball is ls popular than women’s soccer bee the basketball players are Black and gay, while the soccer players are perceived as “cute ltle whe girls. “It’s 70-80 percent Black women, a lot of gay women.

And soccer, you jt don’t see that jt based on how they look, ” she ntued, addg, “The problem is how society and how the outsi world is willg to accept the cute girl next door, but not willg to accept, or embrace, or not judge the basketball players who are tall, Black, gay.