WNBA teams are doing it for the gays.<\/p>\n
Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve started the trend this past weekend after a Pride Night loss to a young Mystics team.<\/p>\n
The first-place Lynx let a six-point lead slip in the final minutes.<\/p>\n
Asked about the atmosphere after the game, Reeve said, \u201cThe crowd was amazing. We should\u2019ve done it for the gays, but we didn\u2019t get it done. That support that we\u2019ve gotten, obviously a special day like today being our Pride Game, we\u2019re motivated by our crowds.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Lynx got another chance Wednesday, beating the Mystics on Washington\u2019s Pride Night.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe got our lick back for the gays,\u201d Reeve said.<\/p>\n
Naturally, the line traveled.<\/p>\n
After the Sky crushed the Fire on Pride Night at Wintrust Arena \u2014 their first win in weeks and second home win of the season \u2014 point guard Natasha Cloud picked it up.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe did it for the gays,\u201d Cloud said. \u201cTell Cheryl.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cloud, who came out in 2021 and is now dating former Sky forward Isabelle Harrison, spoke after the game about what Pride Night means in the WNBA.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom the time that I came into the W, this has always been a safe space for everybody, not just my community,\u201d Cloud said. \u201cOur league is inclusive to everybody, no matter where you come from, what walk of life you come from, your religious background, your sexual preference or orientation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Inclusivity and activism on behalf of marginalized groups are longstanding values of WNBA players. Not surprising considering how much queer excellence the league has witnessed.<\/p>\n
Many of the league\u2019s legends \u2014 Diana Taurasi, Sheryl Swoopes, Sue Bird, Candace Parker, Elena Delle Donne, and Seimone Augustus among them \u2014 are gay. In 2019, the entire All-WNBA First Team was made up of players in the LGBTQ community. In Chicago, Courtney Vandersloot and Allie Quigley became the WNBA\u2019s first married teammates.<\/p>\n
The joke, at this point, is that there are almost too many examples to list.<\/p>\n
On the \u201cPost Moves\u201d podcast, Candace Parker and Aliyah Boston asked queer WNBA veteran Sydney Colson who she would draft for a hypothetical Gays vs. Straights All-Star Game. Colson turned the question back on Boston.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got most of the league,\u201d Colson joked. \u201cI don\u2019t know who y\u2019all are choosing.\u201d<\/p>\n
The WNBA was the first professional sports league to establish a dedicated Pride campaign in 2014. But getting to a place where queer identity could be celebrated openly has been a complicated, winding process.<\/p>\n