My fiancée, Dalia, is a basketball fanatic. I don’t quite understand the appeal of watching the same ten dudes playing for a week straight, but Dalia never misses a Celtics game, even the playoff series. A few years ago, she joined a recreational basketball league called New York Pride Basketball League (it would be redundant to even specify that it’s for lesbians). Dalia plays basketball every Sunday while I watch with the other recreational basketball wives from the stands. Her heroes and fashion icons are all basketball players, meanwhile mine are Margot Robbie and Drew Barrymore. You see what I’m getting at here—Dalia is a big, big basketball fan and I am a big, big not-basketball fan.
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I am, however, a fan of my future wife. So when Dalia presented me with our season tickets to the New York Liberty, our local WNBA team, I thought it would be a fun series of summer dates. I saw how excited she was, so I immediately hopped online, ordered us some merch, and geared up for a summer of lady basketball.
On opening night, we made our way to Barclays Center wearing our new Liberty looks. The Liberty had drafted Breanna Stewart, which I came to learn was a big effing deal after she scored a record-breaking amount of points in the season-opening game. She was giving BDE (Big Dyke Energy), so I decided to corroborate my suspicions via Google. Sure enough, she’s married to a woman, and they have an adorable daughter named Ruby. While I was at it, I figured I’d go down the roster and find out who else was a lesbian. Courtney Vandersloot, check. Jonquel Jones, check. Stefanie Dolson, check. I couldn’t believe it. Those were just the starters!
My research was interrupted by the announcer, who was standing with three lesbians in snapbacks who were competing in a 3-point shoot-off for a free Liberty jersey. After Snapback #2 won the prize, they started flashing to audience members on the jumbo-tron. Every third person was a lesbian. We even recognized a couple of people from Dalia’s basketball league. There were older lesbians that had clearly been fans for decades and young lesbians who looked like they were just excited to be out of their parents’ house. In between plays, I scanned the court-side seats. I recognized a tall woman with dark curly hair and cool pants sitting next to a woman with short teal hair and dope sunglasses. It couldn’t possibly be who I thought it was, but sure enough, it was Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe in the FLESH.
I looked around the stadium, taking in all of the wonderful WLW that I was surrounded by. Aside from Pride, lesbian bars, and a few MUNA concerts, I couldn’t think of anywhere else that I had seen this many queer women in one spot. The best part was seeing lesbian couples of all ages and walks of life. I had always wondered where the gathering of intergenerational lesbians was, and it turns out it’s WNBA games. I’ve learned that sports rally people together, and it’s fun to cheer on the team. But what can really get me behind a cause is knowing that lesbians love it.
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Ever since I discovered these games are weekly sapphic Meccas, I have treated them as such. I’m walking a little taller; I’m giving knowing glances to dykes in the bathroom; I’m tipping my invisible cap to elder lesbians. For the first time ever, I understand sports fans. Everyone is there for one purpose and one goal. And as much as I am there for the Liberty, I am there for the Lesbians.
I wish for more safe spaces like this. There are not a lot of situations where lesbians are cheered on in this capacity. We, players and fans included, still face ridicule and attacks outside of the stadium, but while we’re at the game, we are the heroes. We’re the center of attention, the catchers of free t-shirts, both the cheering and the cheered on. Our sexuality feels both accepted as plain fact but also celebrated at the games.
So even if you are not a sports fan, I encourage all lesbians to attend a WNBA game if you get the chance. First of all, you’re supporting women’s sports which are wildly under-appreciated and underfunded. But on a personal level, you’ll feel what it’s like to walk around that stadium and be present with the lesbian community. Let it charge up your battery and empower you, knowing that there are so many out there just like you. At the very least, go make some sexy eye contact and get some fashion inspo. Because chances are, that girl who is cheering for your team, also plays for your team.
What Do You Think?