Gay female basketball players
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I have a little crush, if you couldn’t tell.
Sami Whitcomb rounds out this team at point guard. This is why pronouns matter. And they are championing social justice advocacy. Led by Unrivaled founder Napheesa Collier, they could be really good!
This team’s gay players also make a huge difference on the court for the Lynx.
We purposely made that a long list, but I wanted to emphasize the amount of popular players where we don’t know very much of their personal lives. The rookie addition of Hailey Van Lith only makes it more exciting.
- Courtney Vandersloot
- Maddy Westbeld
Los Angeles Sparks
There are only two gay players on this team, but their straight players tell a fun story!
In other gay news, Stefanie Dolson and her girlfriend are cute and Brittney Sykes girlfriend is the ultimate WAG, bringing fashion and support.
- Shakira Austin
- Stefanie Dolson
- Emily Engstler
- Sug Sutton
- Brittney Sykes
Chicago Sky
The Chicago Sky are back and better than ever, baby!
“Our league is very inclusive and supportive of its players, so to be able to help so many people in our own markets and communities is an honor to have that platform and be able to give back in the way that we can.”
As mentioned above, we don’t know the exact percentage of WNBA players that are LGBTQIA, but in researching players there are plenty of active and retired players that are heterosexual, have husbands and/or consider themselves to be “straight.” Here’s a short NOT COMPREHENSIVE list of those active and retired WNBA players that identify as straight.
| Players |
|---|
| Natalie Achonwa |
| Erin Alexander (Brown) |
| Rachel Banham |
| Debbie Black |
| Ruthie Bolton |
| Imani Boyette |
| Sandy Brondello |
| Vicky Bullett |
| Liz Cambage |
| Swin Cash |
| Tamika Catchings |
| Napheesa Collier |
| Cynthia Cooper |
| Te'a Cooper |
| Sylvia Crawley |
| Stacey Dales-Schuman |
| Katie Douglas |
| Skylar Diggins-Smith |
| Margo Dydek |
| Marie Ferdinand-Harris |
| Kristin Folkl |
| La'Keshia Frett |
| Derica Hamby |
| Kristi Harrower |
| Bria Hartley |
| Tianna Hawkins |
| Kedra Holland-Corn |
| Sabrina Ionescu |
| Lauren Jackson |
| Pollyanna Johns Kimbrough |
| Susan King Borchardt |
| Lisa Leslie |
| Camille Little |
| Rebecca Lobo |
| Suzie McConnell-Serio |
| Nikki McCray |
| Aari McDonald |
| Delisha Milton-Jones |
| Maya Moore |
| Astou Ndour |
| Kia Nurse |
| Kelsey Plum |
| Ruth Riley |
| Jennifer Rizzotti |
| Katie Lou Samuelson |
| Trisha Stafford-Odom |
| Katy Steding |
| Jackie Stiles |
| Kia Vaughn |
| Lindsey Whalen |
| Val Whiting (Raymond) |
| A'Ja Wilson |
| Monica Wright |
| Lindsey Yamasaki |
| Haixia Zheng |
It’s worth mentioning that in researching this article, we also found that at least 50 former WNBA players are working as coaches or staff for colleges, high schools, NBA or WNBA – most of whom didn’t have very much personal information available.
We’ve listed some of the league’s LGBTQ players and put together a small sampling of the league straight players, but the longest list might be of ot of well-known WNBA players where there’s not a lot of information on their relationships.
Cameron Brink should be back from her ACL tear later this year! Arike has been on this team for years, but the rest of the cast is completely shook up. Visibility begets visibility.
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Welcome to my annual Who’s Gay in the WNBA Report! It’s 70-80% Black women, a lot of gay women.
Kayla McBride is a great shooter and overall athlete. That’s also true in the WNBA where All-Stars Dewanna Bonner and Alyssa Thomas are engaged, former teammates Penny Taylor and Taurasi are married, current teammates Allie Quigley and Courtney Vandersloot have also wed, Natisha Heideman and Jasmine Thomas are coupled up and Breanna Stewart and Marta Xargay have a child together.
We’ve done a pretty exhaustive search on the above list, but it is not 100% representative of the league’s different communities and identities because of the stigma and discrimination that can hang over a player when they come out.
What Percent of WNBA Players Identify As LGBTQ?
If the league’s W25 – the 25 greatest WNBA players of all-time in celebration of the league’s 25th anniversary – are an indication of how many LGBTQ players there are in the league then it’s 40%, but that’s not an accurate number.
Despite the accolades and the fact that 80% of the players are Black, the three names most mentioned by the media? Literally. And soccer, you just don’t see that just based on how they look.”
You can see why choosing to come out as LGBTQ+ isn’t a simple decision as “just be yourself” – especially if you’re a Black woman. Hopefully Steph White can continue what she did in Connecticut and whip them into shape.
DeWanna Bonner’s move to the Fever was exciting, but now that she’s been waived (by her request, it seems) the team has become less gay and less likely to win a title.
Natisha Hiedeman is a talented back-up point guard. We compiled this list because we know that the question of how many gay WNBA players there are and because there’s not a lot of reputable information to be had; it leads to stereotypes being perpetuated and biased opinions are taken as fact. For those of you who are new, every year I break down the list of athletes who are openly queer in the league.
On the downside, Natasha Howard is a bit past her prime and Sydney Colson is far from an ideal backup point guard. Rickea Jackson is one of the most dynamic players out there with equally good fashion in the tunnel walks. The athlete is married to fellow Chicago star Allie Quigley, who retired from basketball (or so it seems) a couple years ago.
It’s been fun to watch her play with joy on the court and prove why she’s one of the best to ever do it.
The Dream team is going to be great this year in my opinion—not necessarily when it comes to winning, but when it comes to having rootable players. Yet the media gives them half the play.