In a league where 18 out of 36 players are out as LGBTQ+, Unrivaled is just the beginning of many more groundbreaking and exciting things to come for queer athletes. For queer women’s basketball superfans who’ve long been shooting their shots or newbies who are breaking their ankles to learn all the lore about one of the gayest professional sports leagues, we’re highlighting all the GOated things about its queer players that make them the greatest, starting with one of the founders who started it all, Breanna Stewart, AKA Stewie.
Uconn Huskies, It’s a Stewie Thing
Stewart’s resume has only become more impressive lately, and her legendary career at the University of Connecticut is where it all began. Not only did she lead the Huskies to four winning championships, she also earned the Women’s Final Fours Most Outstanding Player’s Award four consecutive years in a row. She’s a three-time recipient of both the Naismith College Player of the Year and AP College Player of the Year awards.
A Thriving WNBA Career
Since her debut in the WNBA, where she was drafted first overall in the 2016 WNBA Draft by Seattle Storm, she’s become a three-time WNBA champion, was named the 2018 and 2023 WNBA most valuable player, and is listed as one of the WNBA’s Top 25 most dominant, skilled, and entertaining players in league history. She’s also the fastest WNBA player to score 1,000 points and 500 rebounds out of 55 games, and 3,000 points and 1,000 rebounds out of 125 games. In addition, she’s helped the USA women’s basketball team win gold three consecutive Olympics in a row.
Basketball Power Couple
While playing overseas in 2018-2019 for Dynamo Kursk, a Russian professional women’s basketball team, Stewart met Marta Xargay. The two rarely talked to one another until Stewart ruptured her Achilles tendon and was forced to return to the United States to recover. Their relationship began to bloom over long distance. After Stewart proposed in May of 2021, the two married in June 2021 and now have two children together. Talk about a hoop-ily ever after in this teammates-to-wives love story.
Entrepre-Stewart-ship
In a conversation about the Unrivaled basketball league with Sportico, Stewart said, “I would say that the best business lesson I’ve learned is to invest in yourself, and that’s from a holistic standpoint.” As a founder of Unrivaled, Stewart has courted league sponsorships ranging from Sephora, TNT Sports, Miller Lite, and more. This fast-growing list of sponsorships has contributed to the groundbreaking amenities for players such as saunas, childcare, and professional chefs, all of which add to the conversation about what the WNBA should look like. Way to go Stewie!
An Activist Athlete
Not only has Stewart pushed for change in the WNBA, but off the court as well. She’s used her platforms to speak out on sexual abuse, gender equality, and LGBTQ+ inclusion. She also served as one of the members of this season’s WNBA Social Justice Council, an activist committee that addresses topics such as systematic racism, LGBTQ+ rights, and inequalities in health care. In 2020, Sports Illustrated named her “Sportsperson of the Year” for her activism.
