A Women’s Inspiration in More Ways Than One

           You may not have heard much about Sue Bird, and it’s a shame. Not only is she one of the leading figures in the Seattle Storm women’s basketball team, but also a record-tying number holder of the most appearances in the WNBA, oh, and she’s a lesbian. You may think it strange for us not to start out with that tidbit of information, but it also exhibits a fundamental flaw in a lot of our lines of thought when it comes to women.

            Sure, it may mean nothing to you, you may not be affected by it at all, yet if we were to be able to see into your head upon reading the first two sentences, you may have a mental image of her walking down the aisle to her soon-to-be husband, or out on a nice dinner date with a basketball player from the men’s side of things. It’s become ingrained that we should make an assumption on someone due to normalcy, and its thoughts like these that make things a lot harder for those looking to come out, as it still appears “against the grain”.

            We are not making any claims as to people’s stances when it comes to the LGBT conversation, there may be many now who have an all new respect for her for coming out, some may be disgusted, and though everyone has the right to their opinion, not agreeing with something doesn’t make it go away. Sue came out to ESPNW in the most casual of ways, and in a way that it should be. Treating the news as if it wasn’t news, as if she was talking about the color of her hair, the type of shoes she was wearing.

            Certain aspects of women’s life, and especially in women’s sports we find don’t get enough attention already, and though we regale and celebrate our male sports counterparts coming out, there seems to be a different line of thought when it comes to women. Maybe it’s the loss of a child bearing individual? Who’s to say? But it’s a gain to not only the women’s portion of the population, but especially to those who are finding themselves hiding their own sexuality. Girls out there need to know that it’s ok to be who you are, and you can make accomplishments in life regardless of who that is.
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            At Seattle 5 Star Review we are supporters of everyone in our community, gay, straight, tall, black, human, dog, it doesn’t matter. To us, the community is what’s important, and every member of that community has the right to be happy, to feel safe, and to live their lives as they are. And if young women who are struggling with their sexuality, and how to address it, we’re glad that there’s local sports representatives who can lead by example, to say “Yes, I’m a woman in a game dominated by men, and I am gay, and that’s perfectly fine.”