The normalizing of Black queerness in the WNBA is straight up intoxicating (pun not intended). My forever crush Courtney Williams is right now featured prominently with her girlfriend on the WNBA app underneath a banner proclaiming that “Pride is Love” — which OK yes, is a little on the nose and hasn’t been updated since June, but I digress. In 1996, Team USA members were subliminally encouraged to stay in the closet, this summer 2024 Team USA forward Alyssa Thomas is on the cover of SLAM Magazine with her fiancée and Connecticut Sun teammate DeWanna Bonner, proclaiming them the new “Love & Basketball.” They’re known as the “team parents” by their teammates, because they are the only two Connecticut Sun members over the age of 30 (and no, you don’t have to ask, of course AT is the team daddy). The will-they/won’t-they saga of Connecticut Sun guard DiJonai Carrington and Indiana Fever forward NaLyssa Smith had TikTok pulling out the stringboard. It got so hot that even straight people rejoiced when NaLyssa got her family back.
