Comets' Sheryl
Swoopes opens up
about being gay
By W.H. STICKNEY JR.
Houston Chronical on the Web, October 26, 2005
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Swoopes |
Houston -- The pressure to
perform at a high level on a basketball court is minimal for three-time WNBA
Most Valuable Player Sheryl Swoopes compared to determining that the time was
right to publicly announce today she is gay.
"I'm just ready, just to be free, not to have to hide who I am; not to have to
hide my feelings for her anymore," said Swoopes, nattily attired in blue jeans,
a corresponding knit top and navy blue stiletto boots as she sat in a chair at
the St. Regis Hotel.
"I guess this is to let the world know. I'm at a point in my life right
now where I'm very happy, I'm very content. I've pretty much accomplished
everything, and then some, that I ever wanted to accomplish as far as basketball
goes, and even off the court, being able to do a lot of things that have always
been important to me.
"I'm just happy right now. And I'm tired of having to pretend to be
someone that I'm not."
Swoopes conducted an exclusive interview with ESPN The Magazine for an article
publicly acknowledging that she is gay that began circulating Wednesday.
Swoopes said she has been involved in a relationship with former Comets
assistant coach Alisa Scott since shortly after divorcing from Eric Jackson, her
high school sweetheart and husband of three years.
The announcement coincides with Swoopes recently accepting a paid-compensation
deal to become a spokesperson for Olivia Travel, a California-based organization
geared toward vacation cruises and accommodations for gays and lesbians, said
the group's CEO, Amy Errett.
That deal notwithstanding, Swoopes, 34, said she and Scott no longer wanted to
endure day-to-day life under the suspicious eyes of American society and the
world, an existence they've shared since 1999.
The decision to go public, Swoopes said, was not arrived upon easily for her and
Scott, who resigned her Comets position under pressure prior to the start of the
2005 WNBA season.
"Tough is probably an understatement," Swoopes said. "This has probably
been one of the toughest decisions that I've ever had to make. And the
fact that it's not just me being affected, not just 'Scotty,' you know — it's
Scotty's family, my family, my friends, basketball fans, Sheryl Swoopes fans.
"Hopefully, it won't change to where they're not Sheryl Swoopes fans anymore,
they're not WNBA fans anymore.
"I've thought about it, for a while, but just never felt it was the right time
to do it, (that) it's OK to do it now. And I'm not even saying that this
is the right time to do it."
Swoopes said she's prepared to go forward knowing there will probably be critics
and naysayers.
"I know that there are going to be tough roads ahead, tough days ahead, a lot of
negative things," she said. "But hopefully, a lot of positive things will
come out of it, too. But Olivia's slogan probably says it the best — just
'Be Free.' And I feel like by coming out, telling the world who I am, it's
giving me the opportunity to do just that."
Swoopes joins professional tennis players Billie Jean King and Martina
Navratilova as being at the vanguard of highly visible women in sports who have
publicly pronounced they are gay. King and Navratilova made headlines with
their announcements nearly 30 years ago.
Swoopes said she doesn't consider herself a pioneer or heroine, nor does she
expect her pronouncement to uncork a flood of similar responses from others in
the WNBA.
In September, Swoopes became the first WNBA player to be named MVP three times.
She is a two-time WNBA Defensive Player of the Year, the leading vote-getter in
the All-Star Game five of the six years it's been held, and this past summer was
crowned MVP of the classic.
Comets coach Van Chancellor said he had been aware of Swoopes' impending
announcement for several days.
"I've coached Swoopes for nine years for the Houston Comets as well as with the
(USA Basketball) national team," Chancellor said. "What she does in her
personal life is her own decision.
"I respect everything about Sheryl, how she's handled herself on and off the
court. To me, she will always be one of the greatest ambassadors for the
game of women's basketball and as a person has helped me win four (WNBA)
championships and two gold medals."
Chancellor coached Swoopes and the U.S. women's national team to a gold medal in
the 2002 World Championships in China and a gold medal in the 2004 Olympics at
Athens, Greece.
Swoopes was a member of U.S. national teams that won three Olympic gold medals
(Atlanta in 1996; Australia in 2000).
She missed the first month and a half of the inaugural (1997) WNBA season in a
celebrated pregnancy that resulted in the birth of her only child, son Jordan
Eric Jackson, 8.
Swoopes said it was only when her relationship with Scott deepened that Swoopes
realized she is a lesbian.
"When (she and her ex-husband) first started dating and I got married and had my
child, I was happily married," Swoopes said. "I never saw this happening,
never thought any of this would happen.
"I think like any married couple, you have problems, you have arguments, your
disagreements or whatever. You know what? You have them, and then
you move on, you have them and you work them out.
"Probably for about the last year, year and a half of my marriage we were just
going in different directions. It got to a point to where I knew it was
over with and really didn't want to do anything else to make it work.
"And it had nothing to do with me having feelings for another man, me having
feelings for another woman. It was time to move on and do something
different.
"It just so happened that when I did get to a point where I was ready to start
another relationship, it happened to be with another woman. And I'm happy
about it, I'm OK with it."
Scott, an assistant coach at Old Dominion before joining the Comets in 1998,
said that like Swoopes, she is relieved to have their relationship out in the
open.
"I feel like 100 pounds is off my shoulders, being free, finally," she said.
"I think it was really unhealthy for me, for both of us to have to do this game
of hide-and-seek, or just hiding.
"So I'm totally relieved. I've always lived my life open, not so much,
'Hey, I'm gay,'" said the former All-Southeastern Conference player, who played
under Chancellor at Mississippi. "I've just lived my life as I wanted to.
And getting into this relationship has kind of boxed me in, and it's
nerve-wracking. Just having to answer questions, or see faces and wonder
what they're thinking. ...
"I'm totally relieved and happy that we can make this decision together, just to
be free finally."
Swoopes said that since college, she has known women who were gay and had no
real opinion about them or their relationships.
"But it was never to a point to where I was interested in it, or said, 'Maybe
this is something that some day I want to do or I want to try,'" she said.
"It was just an understanding I had with my friends or they had with me that
that was just not what I want to do. I know that it's not what the world
accepts or what society accepts. But I think it's unfortunate that people
aren't able to live their lives and see who they are, whether that's being with
another woman, being with another man.
"I don't think it matters who you're with, people are always going to find
something wrong with it. I guess my biggest thing is, as long as I'm
happy, I'm not hurting anybody. We're happy to be together, Jordan's
happy, (and) he's taken care of, that's the most important thing."
Ever since Swoopes signed to play basketball at Texas in the late 1980s but
abruptly left school after just two weeks in Austin, rumors have persisted as to
the reason for her exit.
It was said that she was pregnant and went back to her hometown of Brownfield,
near Lubbock, to give birth. Swoopes has vehemently denied that.
It was also said that Swoopes asked Texas coach Jody Conradt for a transfer
because she had been inappropriately approached sexually by a female associated
with the Texas women's basketball program.
Swoopes denies that assertion as well.
"I keep trying to figure out where that came from," Swoopes said. "But no,
neither one of those is true. Me coming back from Texas, the only reason I
did it was because I was homesick.
"I missed my mom. Coming from a very small town, I'm a mama's girl, always
been a mama's girl, so I wanted to be closer to home. And at the time,
Eric and I were dating, I missed him, and I just wanted to go back closer to
home."
Swoopes accepted a scholarship to Texas Tech and led it to the NCAA women's
championship in 1993. She was named National Player of the Year and
eventually became the first female to have a basketball sneaker manufactured (by
Nike) under her autograph.
At present, Swoopes said, she has exclusive endorsement contracts only with Nike
and Olivia. She has spoken with a representative of Nike who, Swoopes
said, offered positive responses when told of her impending announcement.
As of Wednesday afternoon, Swoopes hadn't talked directly with WNBA president
Donna Orender but had received positive overtones from others within the
organization, she said.
Orender did not return calls to The Chronicle on Wednesday afternoon.
Swoopes said she has no idea how Wednesday's announcement might affect her
future in the WNBA.
"I think there are a lot of people out there, I don't care whether that's in the
WNBA, not in the WNBA, just in life who are dealing with a lot of different
issues and don't really know what to do," Swoopes said. "And maybe
somebody will look at me coming out and say, 'You know what, if Sheryl Swoopes
can do this, I know I can do this.' Some people ask if I don't think what
I'm doing is heroic.
"I don't know. I'm not doing it for that reason. I don't know what
people are going to think, I don't know what type of effect it's going to have.
But I do know that Donna issued a statement, and it was very positive.
"It was something to the effect that my lifestyle was not an issue with them,
for them. I don't think there's any secret that a huge part of the WNBA
fans come from the gay and lesbian community," Swoopes said.
"I don't think it's a secret. Everybody knows that. So, you know, I
think there's a possibility that this could bring more fans to the WNBA.
And I think that's what it should be about, filling seats and getting as many
people to come to the games to watch some great basketball."
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