Shaquille
O’Neal went into the NBA shattering backboards. And after what is now
considered one of the most anticipated drafts in the WNBA, the number one draft
pick of 2013, Brittney Griner, is shattering stereotypes. She’s already made a
name for herself in the league and has yet to play one game. Only two days
after being drafted, Brittney came out publicly as a lesbian in an interview
with Sports Illustrated.
Brittney
is no stranger to public attention, physically speaking, Griner is quite a
specimen; she stands at 6 foot 8, her wingspan is 7’ 4’’. She comes into the
league after having dominated as the best center in college. As a student at
Baylor University, Griner was a 3 time All American and 2-time AP of the year,
and was named Most Outstanding Player in the 2012 Final Four; the year Baylor
won the national championship. She is the second all-time scoring leader in
women’s NCAA making history with 3,283 points.
She blocked 748 shots, more than any man or woman in college basketball,
and had 18 career dunks, 11 of those in her last season. She’s a force to be reckoned
with, she can block shots, alter shots, grab rebounds, pass over opponents’
heads and move without the ball.
Brittney is tall,
funny, can be kind of quiet yet is very articulated and ready to make a statement.
Her presence alone makes you pay attention; she’s 6’8’’ how can you not. This
woman is not only athletically gifted; she is also smart and good hearted. She
is intent on using her popularity as a platform to motivate others. She
specifically wants to reach young people and make them feel comfortable with
being themselves; she wants to destigmatize “being gay” and being gender
non-conforming. In her interview with Sports Illustrated, Brittney stated:
"Being one that's out, it's just
being who you are. Again, like I said, just be who you are. Don't worry about
what other people are going to say, because they're always going to say
something, but, if you're just true to yourself, let that shine through. Don't
hide who you really are."
Not even all the
accolades and athleticism protected Brittney from being harassed for being
‘different’. A few times I read postgame interviews or any article about Griner
and was disgusted and disturbed by peoples’ comments, questioning her sex, her
gender and sexuality and not in the nicest way either. Still today if you enter
her name on Google you’ll see search phrases such as “Brittney Griner man,” all
because she has the athletic build and skills unlike any other female
basketball player, college or professional, we’d seen before. There was even a
point during the 2012 season that Kim Mulkey, Baylor’s women’s basketball
coach, publicly defended and condemned the comments folks were making about
Griner on various social media sites. When asked by the AP what is was like to
stand out, Brittney replied:
''It was hard. Just being picked on for
being different. Just being bigger, my sexuality, everything…I overcame it and
got over it. Definitely something that I am very passionate about. I want to
work with kids and bring recognition to the problem, especially with the LGBT
community.''
Now as a
professional baller, Brittney continues to shatter the limitations imposed on
women who don’t fit the norm and to push gender scripts. She is a skateboarding,
fashionista who showed up to the WNBA draft wearing an all-white suit, Converse
low-tops, orange argyle socks and orange nail polish to match the Phoenix
Mercury team colors, where she’ll be starting off her WNBA career. There are so
many expectations placed on Griner, the WNBA is counting on her
success, as well as Elena Della Done and Skylar Diggins’, the number 2 and
number 3 2013 draft picks respectively, to help move the league forward and extend its
viewership. But for Griner her eyes and heart are set higher than just
basketball.
Griner of course
is not the first female athlete to come out, there are other icons like
Billie Jean
King, Renee Richards, Martina Navratilova, Lauren Lappin, Fallon Fox and Megan
Rapinoe who have courageously come out and transformed their respective sports.
But is this precedent of women paving the way for young athletes like Griner,
to come out, the reason why her announcement was treated with lack of interest
by the media? I haven’t heard anything over the radio waves these last few days.
The sports media has been more focused on the anticipation of the NFL schedule
(seriously? It’s just a schedule) and now the NLF draft. The muted response to Brittney’s announcement
from the sports world has to do with the sexism and stereotypes that pervade
female sports. In other words, it has been assumed for a long time that if
you’re a woman and play sports/are athletic/competitive then you must be a
lesbian. So Brittney coming is just seen as well, another lesbian playing
sports.
Because many
straight female athletes have had to fight being perceived as lesbian, many at
times have been too busy fighting these perceptions and less interested in
being supportive of LGBT causes. Which is another factor that makes Griner’s
situation unique, during her interviews she was being supported by Della Done and Diggins. Plus, now the league is not shying away or
ostracizing players that don’t conform to conventional standards of femininity.
Since
taking her post in 2011, Laurel Richie, the President of the WNBA, a long time
marketing veteran, has been putting much effort into transforming the WNBA’s
image. She changed the league’s logo to depict a player driving to the basket,
which is supposed to represent the league’s growing diversity and athleticism. Sadly,
despite this and other efforts in women’s athletics to speak out on LGBT issues
and challenge the stigma, ostracism and violence that LGBT folks experience the
entire sports world is indifferent and is still holding their collective breath
for that one professional male athlete to come out and rock our universe, underestimating
the contributions that these females athletes are already making.
