June. Pride Month. And while there are well-monied forces afoot effectively trying to drive those who are part of the LGBTQIA+ community back into the shadows, 2025 has shown that those who part of said community should be louder than ever about their Pride.
And that those who are allies should be more boisterous than ever about why those who identify with the LGBTQIA+ community should be treated simply as human beings like the rest of us.
This greatly reverberates into women’s sports – especially the WNBA. The W for much of its history has been a safe space for the LGBTQIA+ community. In fact, that is a community that has been ride or die for the W before it became cool to be a ride or die for the W.
There are plenty of names within this community that also happen to be WNBA luminaries. Names such as Sue Bird, Breanna Stewart, Diana Taurasi, Jonquel Jones, Brittney Griner, Natasha Howard, Layshia Clarendon, Stephanie White and Cheryl Reeve among many others.
While teams and leagues in other sports are iffy about flying the rainbow colors or the transgender colors because they appeal to toxic masculinity (looking at you, NHL), the WNBA and Pride go together like…a Caitlin Clark pass and an Aliyah Boston layup.
It is staggeringly appropriate that I mention both Clark and Boston because of the team they play for – the Indiana Fever. One of the negative aspects of the Clark Effect is how the Fever’s fandom has become infested with “supporters” that are the antithesis of what the WNBA is all about.
What the Fever ought to do is have its pride logo as its avatar on all of its social media channels throughout June – the way other WNBA teams including the New York Liberty, Los Angeles Sparks, Golden State Valkyries, Minnesota Lynx, Seattle Storm, Connecticut Sun, Las Vegas Aces and Atlanta Dream have.
But…one look at the comments after the Fever’s “Happy Pride Month” post told us everything we needed to know.
The Fever held its Pride Game on June 3rd against the Washington Mystics. It was also the first Commissioner’s Cup contest for Indiana. The game resulted in a win for the Fever who were sans Clark but Indiana did have Kelsey Mitchell – and her 24 points, three assists and two steals.
Indiana also had Lexie Hull – and her 14 points, six rebounds, four assists and one steal. Boston also chimed in with 10 points and four boards. Apparently, celebrating Pride – and more importantly celebrating LOVE – does good things for a team’s fortunes, young superstar or no young superstar.
The negative reaction to the Fever’s Pride initiatives underscores what is happening with women’s sports as a whole. Individuals – mostly men – pillaging the women’s sports space – one that has traditionally been more welcoming than men’s sports spaces as they thrive off excess testosterone and machismo.
They cloak their true intentions under the guise of “support” yet are much more boisterous about the mere presence of trans athletes more than they are when addressing the problems of sexual harassment, abuse and misconduct in girls’ youth athletics – by male coaches. That is not support – it is merely a reinvented form of misogyny and chauvinism. The Lauren Betts video from March Madness is a perfect example.
There are fewer athletes or ex-athletes who have become heroes on the right moreso than Riley Gaines. Gaines has also put herself out there as an unapologetic transphobe. One of those posts was called out by an actual Olympic gold medalist in Simone Biles.
While Biles recently put out an apology tweet, there was no reason for Biles to apologize. Biles should stand on all 10 the same way she stood on business during those Olympics where she won medal after medal after medal.
Gaines particularly getting checked by Biles was especially fitting because Biles is every bit the athlete Gaines wishes she could be – successful, beloved and does not have to latch on to a regressive campaign of hate in order to gain a modicum of social media street cred.
In addition, the attempt to cause a widespread panic over transgender athletes when there is not even a large number of them is only more proof that these saboteurs want to simplify a world that they are too lazy to understand.
Why is it so important that the women’s sports community stand with its transgender counterparts? Because what was they/them one day will be she/her the next.
What trans athletes are unfortunately experiencing today is no different from what women athletes endured throughout the 20th century. Sports have historically been seen as a man’s pursuit. For a woman to express competitive fire and passion as athletes was seen as the opposite of “ladylike” – one of the most sexist words in our lexicon.
And must we mention how Ronald Reagan’s White House would refer to Title IX as the “Lesbians’ Bill of Rights.”
The LGBTQIA+ community is not wishing any harm on any other communities. Like the rest of us, said community simply wants to be looked at as human beings like any other person would. Whether it is respecting their choice of pronouns or respecting their athletic pursuits. And in many ways, the energy and vibrancy they bring to sports is much more positive, inviting and indicative of what the sports community as a whole needs.
Those who are homophobes and transphobes are such because they want to project their hatred of themselves upon communities such as the LGBTQIA+ population who have done nothing to earn that hate. And that is why one of the most effective acts of resistance that can be used is to continue to embrace yourself unapologetically for who you are.
This community should not be ashamed of Pride. If anything, it should shine its colors brighter than ever. Do not dim your lights simply because those that want them dimmed live in dark places and are unwilling to do their own work to see that they too can be beacons of light and hope.
To the LGBTQIA+ sports community. You are needed. You are cherished. You are loved.
To the LGBTQIA+ community as a whole. You are needed. You are cherished. You. Are. Loved.
As the wise philosopher Ari Chambers would say…you are so important.
#Pride365 #LoveIsLove #LoveWins
