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NEW YORK (Ticker) - Three-time WNBA MVP Sheryl Swoopes revealed she is gay in the latest issue of ESPN The Magazine released Wednesday.
In a first-person account, Swoopes - who teamed with Lisa Leslie and Rebecca Lobo in the marketing and promotion of the fledgling women's basketball league almost 10 years ago - explained why she came out, her potential impact on young female fans and the perceived double-standard regarding gays in men's and women's sports.
"My reason for coming out now isn't to be some sort of hero," Swoopes, 34, told the magazine. "It's not something that I want to throw in people's faces. 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."
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Since joining the WNBA in the mid-1990s, Swoopes has married, given birth to a son now 8 years old and divorced. She maintains the breakup of her marriage was not because of her sexuality, which she says has changed over the last several years.
"I didn't always know I was gay. I honestly didn't," she said. "Do I think I was born this way? No. And that's probably confusing to some, because I know a lot of people believe that you are.
"Being with a man was what I wanted. When I got divorced in 1999, it wasn't because I'm gay."
A handful of prominent athletes have come out during their careers, including tennis players Martina Navratilova and Amelie Mauresmo, diver Greg Louganis and golfer Rosie Jones.
However, Swoopes may be the most prominent team sports athlete to make her alternative lifestyle public.
Swoopes' accomplishments in women's basketball are virtually unparalleled. She led Texas Tech to the NCAA title in 1993, when she was named Player of the Year and set a record by scoring 46 points in the championship game.
In international basketball, Swoopes has collected three gold medals as a member of Team USA at the 1996, 2000 and 2004 Olympics.
And in the WNBA, no player has had the combination of individual and team success of Swoopes. After giving birth to her son, Jordan, she returned late in the 1997 season and teamed with Cynthia Cooper to lead the Houston Comets to the league's first four championships.
Swoopes won her first WNBA MVP award in 2000 but missed the following season due to injury. She returned to win MVP honors in 2002 and again this season, when she led the league in scoring and minutes and was second in steals.
Also a three-time WNBA Defensive Player of the Year, Swoopes is worried that her accomplishments on the court and off will be obscured by her sexuality.
"My biggest concern is that people are going to look at my homosexuality and say to little girls - whether they're white, black, Hispanic - that I can't be their role model anymore," she said. "I don't want that to happen.
"Being gay has nothing to do with the three gold medals or the three MVPs or the four championships I've won. I'm still the same person. I'm Sheryl."
Swoopes does not understand why the public makes a big deal of lesbians competing in sports but ignores the probability that there are gay male pro athletes as well.
"What really irritates me is when people talk about football, baseball and the NBA, you don't hear all of this talk about gay guys playing," she said. "But when you talk about the WNBA, then it becomes an issue.
"Sexuality and gender don't change anyone's performance on the court. Women play just as hard as guys do. We're just as competitive."
Swoopes would love to see an active male athlete come out but doubts it will happen.
"I don't know if a guy will have the courage to come out while he's still playing because of the whole male-ego thing," she said. "Male athletes of my caliber probably feel like they have a lot more to lose than gain. I don't agree with that. To me, the most important thing is happiness."
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I'm glad she came out. Now maybe some of her younger counterparts wont feel so alone anymore. But umm on the real there is no use for some of these stars and athletes to be hiding cause its a bit too obvious...
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sheryl swoops finally admits she's gay
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