I first wrote an edited version of the article below 25 years ago, four years after the WNBA (Women’s National Basketball Association) launched. Much has changed in 29 years.
There are currently 13 teams in the league, and it is set to expand to 15 in 2026 with the additions of Portland and Toronto. Up from 8 at the start.
The newest team is the Golden State Valkyries (GSV), and like their counterparts, the Golden State Warriors (GSW), they play at the Chase Center in San Francisco.
There is an All-Star game in July and a mid-season competition, and the Commissioner’s Cup, an in-season tournament which began in 2020.
GSV are headquartered and practice in Oakland.
The owners have guaranteed a championship by 2030.
GSV has sold out all six of their home games to date, 18,064 seats.
According to a 2022 study, about 38% of the WNBA players are lesbian, most notably Brittney Griner. And Stephanie White, head coach of the Indiana Fever is in a partnered relationship with Lisa Salters, a journalist.
LOVE AND BASKETBALL
AKA “Niggas Dykes and Corporate Types”
Sunday June 4, 2000
Sports is the modern opiate of the people. Like all good drugs, it provides a satisfying boost to its users (both participants and spectators) and huge money to its owners. A compelling spectacle sports promotes the cherished American ideal of intense competition on a level playing field where race nor gender matter. Sports heroes, language and images saturate U.S. Culture, presenting a model of race, gender and sexual roles.
The WNBA has kicked off its fourth preseason in the dust of the now-defunct American Basketball League. In women’s sports, sexual preference—not race—is the big taboo for corporate marketing. As Christine Grant, University of Iowa’s athletic director was quoted in the News and Observer in Raleigh, N.C.: “Homophobia in women’s sports is like the McCarthyism of the 1950s. The fear is paralyzing.”
Just take a look at the WNBA’s promotional “femming up”campaign to avoid even a question about the sexual orientation of the players or women’s coaches. In a magazine article, Dot Richardson of the 1996 Olympic softball team complained that because she was an athlete, people thought she must be a lesbian.
Pat Griffin, author of : “Strong Women, Deep Closets: Lesbians and Homophobia in Sports,” writes “Somehow lesbians have become the scapegoats for problems in women’s sports.” According to a 1994 NCAA study, 4/9 percent of female athletes and 51% of female coaches said they felt homophobia was a hindrance to attracting and retaining women in athletic careers. In professional sports, it's OK to be a lesbian, just not OK to be out. Some college coaches use homophobia to steer straight players to their “family friendly” teams and away from teams known to be tolerant of lesbians.