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But WNBA president Orender's use of the phrase "lifestyle choice" in talking about Swoopes's coming out is telling.

In 2004, 27-year-old Minnesota Lynx player Michele Van Gorp became the first active WNBA player to come out (former New York Liberty player Sue Wicks came out as a lesbian in 2002 after she had retired). While the Lynx were supportive of Van Gorp, she says she had a more difficult time when she played with the New York Liberty in the 1999 season. "I had a lot of issues in New York in my first year," she told Minnesota's Lavender magazine. "The [New York] organization wasn't very happy that [her partner] Kyleen would come down to [meet] me at the team bus as we were leaving for practice.

"It was actually a big issue," Van Gorp continue. "Within the organization, it seemed very taboo, and that was hard for me, because it is not something I am afraid of. It is who I am. I don't try to push it on anyone, but I'm not going to live my life differently because someone else is scared of what society thinks."

According to many former players and coaches, the league is so terrified of being branded a lesbian organization that there is extreme pressure put on gay players not to come out.

Swoopes is frustrated that a player's sexuality is even an issue. "The talk about the WNBA being full of lesbians is not true," Swoopes told ESPN. "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."

But sexuality and gender can determine whether a player even gets to play. This summer, lesbian L.A. Sparks player Latasha Byears was accused of raping a woman at a party, and suspended from the team as soon as the investigation opened, while L.A. Lakers player Kobe Bryant was accused of a similar crime and continues to play. She eventually filed suit against the Sparks, alleging anti-lesbian bias in the organization.

At Penn State, long-time women's basketball coach Rene Portland was accused recently of harassing and dropping players who she believes are gay when a former player (who actually isn't gay, but says Portland thought she was) went public. In 1986, Portland told The Chicago Sun-Times that she did not allow lesbians to play for Penn State; since then, non-discrimination laws have been enacted, and she doesn't say things like that publicly anymore, but her practices don't seem to have changed.

University of Minnesota sports sociologist Mary Jo Kane, who directs the Tucker Center, which focuses on women in sports, told the Pittsburgh Tribune Review this week that "there are many ways coaches can say something without actually saying the word 'lesbian'...Rival coaches might say, 'There are rumors I heard about that team or that coach. We run a different kind of program here. We have values here.' They talk in code. The problem is not lesbians in sports. It is homophobia."

It's not surprising, then, that no other WNBA players have come out since Van Gorp. Until now.

As one of the superstars of the league and arguably its best spokeperson, Swoopes's decision to come out is a major event in women's sports. It's also worth noting that Swoopes is the first black woman in the WNBA to come out, and one of the only openly gay black female athletes in American professional sports.

Swoopes's revelation has already stepped up the conversation among sports fans and commentators about homophobia in women's sports, which is a step in the right direction. Swoopes tells The Advocate that she hopes her coming-out "is gonna make a difference to a lot of people out there who want to come out and don't know how to do it or are afraid."

Find more media coverage of Swoopes's coming-out at allgaynews.com

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