Three-time MVP ‘tired of having to hide my feelings’
WNBA’s Swoopes comes out, to endorse lesbian cruise line
Someday, when we’all all found a way to set our fears and prejudices aside, some celebrity, athlete, or politician will come out of the closet and announce to the world that they’re gay, and the reaction will be a collective “So what?” Clearly, that day is a LONG ways off, so when WNBA star Sheryl Swoopes announced yesterday that she is a lesbian, it was news that hit the top of sports sections all over the country.
My own reaction to Swoopes’ announcment was to be happy for her. If that is how she chooses to live her life and she’s happy with her decision, good for her. NONE of us have the right to pass judgement on how an individual chooses to live their life. It’s like I’ve always said: “Don’t like gay marriage? Don’t have one!” Of course, there will be plenty of pundits who will weigh in with their opinions on her lifestyle. Of course, we all know what opinions are like, don’t we?
If a person is being true to themselves, if they are living the life they feel they were meant to lead, if they’re happy with their choices, and if no one is being harmed, THEN WHAT’S THE PROBLEM?? (Except for the fact that a few judgemental, ignorant troglodytes seem to feel they have the right to condemn Swoopes for living her life as she sees fit?) This is America, remember- land of the FREE? As in free to make your own choices, free to be who you want to be…and free to do what you need to do to find happiness.
Calling life in the closet “miserable,” three-time Olympic gold medalist and reigning WNBA MVP Sheryl Swoopes announced she is gay in an exclusive interview in the current issue of ESPN The Magazine.
“My reason for coming out isn’t to be some sort of hero,” Swoopes, a forward with the Houston Comets, says in the article. “I’m just at a point in my life where I’m tired of having to pretend to be somebody I’m not. I’m tired of having to hide my feelings about the person I care about. About the person I love….
“Some people might say my coming out after just winning the MVP award is heroic, and I understand that,” she says. “And I know there are going to be some negative things said, too. But it doesn’t change who I am. I can’t help who I fall in love with. No one can.”
In the article, Swoopes goes on to talk about her three-year marriage, her 8-year-old son, Jordan, and life with her partner, former Old Dominion basketball coach Alisa Scott.
“Discovering I’m gay just sort of happened much later in life,” Swoopes says. “Being intimate with [Alisa] or any other woman never entered my mind. At the same time, I’m a firm believer that when you fall in love with somebody, you can’t control that.”
The news could be particularly perplexing for the WNBA, which has struggled to both recognize the homosexual element connected to its league and grow its fan base. Ironically, in its infancy, the WNBA marketed a pregnant, married Swoopes to put a heterosexual face on its promotional campaign. Now the league, which will play its 10th season next summer, has to decide what to do now that one of its best and most recognizable players has announced she’s gay.
“The talk about the WNBA being full of lesbians is not true,” Swoopes says. “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.”
Someday, no one will care who a celebrity or an athlete or a politician is sleeping with. Someday, we will live and let live and not devote so much attention and recrimination to a public figure’s private life. Of course, this won’t happen anytime soon, but that won’t stop me from thinking that it should.
What, really, is so wrong with two people finding happiness and wanting to be together? Why do so many fearful, ignorant, judgemental troglodytes seem to think they have the right to pass judgement on how others live there lives? When last I checked, this is still (nominally, at least) a free country. If Sheryl Swoopes is happy with her lifestyle choice, that’s all that should matter. Period.
Of course, there might be one positive side-effect to Swoopes coming out of the closet. If she plays for the Houston Comets this season, there probably will be about 150 more fans at most games, because Fred Phelps and his flock of inbred hatemongers from the Westboro Baptist Church will be picketing Toyota Center in downtown Houston. You go, Fred….
From where I sit, Sheryl Swoopes should be commended for having the courage to admit what she knows to be a reality. That this is even considered newsworthy says far more about the state of American society than it does about Swoopes. Perhaps someday, society will no longer care, and that will be a very good day.
