Interview With Sheryl Swoopes

I've been a big fan of Sheryl Swoopes since her days at Texas Tech...always good to hear from her.

If she retires after this season, does that mean she won't be at the Summer Olympic Games in '08? After three gold medals, it'll be hard to imagine a US National team without her.

Latasha Byears, another a member of the Houston Comets, is also out as a lesbian.  Hers is a long and controversial story.  See links:

http://womenshoops.blogspot.com/2003/08/oh-man.html

http://womenshoops.blogspot.com/2005/08/when-wnba-commissioner-donna-orender.html

I have always been a fan of Swoopes and WNBA for a long time. I'm so glad she and other WNBA players have come out.  U don't know the controversery still behind secondary and college women coming out.  Some have been kicked out of school as well as off the team.  Bigotry/Lesbophobic still exist in Sports. I hope she does open the sports bar, I'm not an athlete, but support female sports 100%.

She's got my love and support as well as a woman who made herstory in the world!

Fine interview!

thank,you "afterellen"4 the story on"SHERYL SWOOPES"not only is she my favorite basketball player she is also my rolemodel.I,m glad you all apreciate her.she is an living legend."

    "houston comets rule the wnba#22all the way"

okay im going to try really hard to make this comment constructive and not just sound like im hating on sheryl swoopes cause shes obviously a kick ass athlete.

i give her all the credit in the world for being a positive role model and a phenomenal female athlete. ...but i find it a virtually impossible to support anyone who claims that being gay is a choice. and thats fine if she feels that way about her own personal choice. but from my perspective her previous comments about "choosing to be gay" pretty much singlehandedly brought the gay community to its knees. the last thing anybody knees is for gay haters to get wind of the fact that even lesbians are saying its a choice.. and they will have us lining up to be "fixed" in no time.

with great power comes great responsibility. i just wonder if she hasnt done just as much damage as good for the gay community in this case?

........ and now im wondering if anyone else even remembers this whole fiasco..please tell me someone else knows what im talking about?

That was part of Sheryl's coming out story. Here is the article you are referencing, where she talks about being gay being a choice:

You have said that you don't believe you were born gay, which, as you said, may confuse many people. How do you believe you came to be gay?

I think there are a lot of people -- gays and lesbians -- who believe you are born that way. I think there also a lot of people who believe it's a choice. And, for me, I believe it was a choice. I was at a point in my life where I had gone through a divorce and was not in a relationship, and the choice I made happened to be that I fell in love with another woman.

>> Gay.com story

Out WNBA Players: As with who is an out athlete, that usually actually means, "who came out to the press?" There are plenty of athletes that consider themselves out - right up until I ask them to be in a story. Heeckkk Noooo is the response, for a myriad of reasons. The same reasons we have in our own lives for being out or not.

The best place to see who is out? Outsports.com.

I'm putting together a more comprehensive list of out female athletes, so if you are an athlete that considers yourself out - and your story hasn't been written - let me know.

- Kaki Flynn (author of story)
kakiflynn@hotmail.com

Thanks for the interview with Sheryl, she is my rolemodel.  I had season tickets every year to see the WNBA play while they were in the Garden, until I heard that the WNBA does not want Lesbians attending their games, now I  have totally lost interest in the League.  I will just spend my money where I am wanted.  Good luck to all you players out there. But I am toast when It comes to the WNBA.

PS. I use to love the WNBA as much as I love Bad Girls now!

A few points:

In her interview with The Advocate upon coming out, Swoopes also mentioned the stuff about her feeling that being gay is a choice. As much as I enjoy watching her play, that comment was dismaying, to say the least, and it's surprising, I think, that in the last couple of years she hasn't thought better of it. To follow her line of logic, virtually everything can be considered to be a choice. Even eating is a choice; one must eat to live, but the act of eating can be indulged or not. No one is forced to do so, and can decline, despite the consequences. In the same way, one can also ignore the fact of being gay, despite the unhappiness, among other things, that may ensue. Is this the kind of 'choice' to which Swoopes refers?

Secondly, when the WNBA first came into being, the league alienated many lesbians when its spokespeople came out with some unsavory remarks about gay fans. That was 11 years ago, however, and as far as I know, nothing along those lines has been said for quite some time. Many teams, in fact, have even sponsored promotions targeting gays.

Swoopes does make a good point about female coaches. There are many qualified ones out there who should be given a chance, at every level, not just the WNBA. Even most high school and college girls basketball teams are still coached by men.

The WNBA is pure basketball, unlike the NBA, which relies on nonsense like dunking, hanging from the rim, etc. The NBA is more theater, whereas the WNBA shows more skill and is pure sport. That's why it's great that the league has lasted this long and is so much fun to watch.

To look at the acceptance of gay fans in the WNBA, you have to look at it on a team-by-team basis.

I have not had a chance to do it, but the only way to know would be to call every team, and to see what that teams involvement with the gay community is. Here are a few examples:

LA Sparks:
I live in LA, and the team is AWESOME. The owners had a party at the gay bar The Norm, the lesbian social group Women on a Roll are hosting a private party that involves the team and the owners, and the LA Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce has a block of season tickets. The LA Sparks marketing person and other people in the organization have been awesome. The Sparks also have openly gay staff members.

Seattle Storm:
On the flip side, the Seattle Storm owners gave money to an anti-gay marriage group.

Miami:
The Miami team has had parties at lesbian clubs and embraced lesbian fans from day one.

Houston Comets:
Sheryl Swoopes plays for them. 

Like the writer above mentioned, with new owners and lots of changes over 11 years, I wouldn't write off the whole WNBA.

Kaki Flynn

swoope is one of my favorite athletes. even though she said "its a choice" when i totally disagree with that, i still think she deserves a lot of credits for coming out. Her life and carreer were on the line and it's unfortunate that she wont be playing anymore after this season. =[

hope she will be even more successful in the next chapter of her life. =]

Micko,

You ultimately have the right to live your life as you choose, and the right to your opinion.

FYI for readers, to show a different side, there are over 5,000 churches that accept members of the GLBTQ community, and allow people to live openly and freely.

Check out:

http://www.mccchurch.org/

Just wondering Micko, since the bible outright condones slavery, do you own slaves? According to scripture, it's not only okay to own slaves, but it's okay to beat them, nearly to death if you see fit, as they are your property, after all.

Have you ever done any kind of work on the sabbath day? Because the bible forbids it. Have you ever eaten shrimp? Shellfish is considered unclean, and is also forbidden. Ever mix meat and cheese together in the same meal? Forbidden also. How about mixing different fabrics in the same garment? Forbidden. Do you think unruly children who talk back to their parents should be put to death? The bible does. How about adulterers? Should they be put to death, also? The bible says yes.

My point: even those who say they take the bible literally pick and choose. Why are the couple of verses that address homosexuality used as a weapon against us, yet all the things cited above conveniently and routinely ignored? I've yet to receive a satisfactory answer to that.