Sports
Former UMD basketball player Abby Meyers discusses lesbians in sports, March Madness
Potomac native signed with the London Lions last August
Star basketball player Abby Meyers signed with the London Lions last August, but she called Maryland home before calling the shots in London.
Meyers, a lesbian shooting guard, grew up in Potomac and graduated from Walt Whitman High School in 2017. She played for Princeton in her undergraduate years and played for the University of Maryland during graduate school.
She began playing basketball in elementary school, and she was already showing an abundance of potential by the time she was in high school.
In her freshman year of high school, the schoolās basketball coach sat down with Meyers and her family and showed them a list of universities with Division I basketball teams. Meyers circled the names of the schools that she was interested in attending. From there, the doors leading to a collegiate basketball career began to open. She began working towards her dream and ended up playing for Princeton.
āIt was kind of like a mutual understanding between the two of us, me and basketball,ā Meyers told the Washington Blade. āI took more individual lessons, and I just realized that the potential was sky high.ā
She came back to her home state to attend the University of Maryland not only for its business program but also for its celebrated basketball team.
āI grew up watching Alyssa Thomas, Shatori Walker-Kimbrough and so many other legends that passed through that program,ā Meyers said. āSo for me, I knew that basketball-wise, it was the best decision I could make. ā¦ They definitely had all of the qualities to make me the best player I could be.ā
Before shipping off to London, Meyers briefly played in the WNBA for the Washington Mystics in the summer of 2023. In fact, the aforementioned UMD alum Shatori Walker-Kimbrough was one of her teammates.
She described her time with the WNBA and in London so far as a ālearning experience.ā
āI got to relearn what it meant to be a rookie again,ā Meyers said. āAll of a sudden you enter a new team, a new level and you’re at the bottom, and you just have to let your actions speak louder than your words.ā
Meyers publicly came out around 2019, and since then she has been a role model for many other lesbian women in sports.
āBy coming out I’m actually being my authentic self, but I was scared that people were going to judge me and look at me differently when in fact, I was met with open arms, love, and appreciation,ā Meyers said.
Meyers believes the journey one takes to coming out is an individual process that looks different for everyone.
āAt the end of the day, it’s your own race; run it at your own pace,ā Meyers said. āNever be apologetic for who you are. When you have to start compromising yourself and your values for other people like though thatās not the community you want to be a part of.ā
She has not experienced much anti-LGBTQ stigma since coming out, but that does not mean that it does not exist in other sports communities. However, in this modern social climate, Meyers pointed out, people are much more accepting of gay women in sports.
Nina Hazra, a University of Maryland medical student, grew up playing basketball with Meyers. The two were on the same team in middle school, but they went to different high schools and would often play against each other.
Hazra did not play much past high school, but she remained close friends with her former teammate and rival to this day. She went to most of the home games during Meyersā stint at UMD.
Though Hazra does not identify with the LGBTQ community, she noticed a tension in the sports world that affects all women, regardless of sexuality. However, with todayās shifting climate, it has become easier for female athletes to express their identities
āWomen who express strong emotions in sports are often treated differently than men who do the exact same thing,ā Hazra said in an interview. āI feel like as we’ve gotten older, there’s been a lot more celebration of womanhood in whatever form in sports, and I think that’s one of the places where you can then kind of go outside those societal norms.ā
But Hazra still noticed the impact Meyers had on younger generations in sports who may be struggling with their identities.
āIt doesn’t matter your sexuality, your gender identity, all that stuff. That doesn’t matter when you’re playing a sport,ā Hazra said. āA lot of us didn’t have role models in those years growing up and just to get to see her being that for so many girls is so amazing.ā
Elisa Pinzan, also a former Terrapin, is good friends with Meyers.
Originally from Italy, Pinzan played for the University of South Florida for four years before entering the transfer portal and landing at UMD. She now plays for Keflavik IF in Iceland.
Pinzan and Meyers formed a strong bond while playing for the Terrapins together.
āShe was the first person I got close to; she is very open, smiley and friendly, and I felt comfortable around her from the first day,ā Pinzan described. āI am glad to have met someone like Abby, with such a kind soul.ā
Pinzan thought that fans should keep their eyes peeled for the Terrapins this upcoming March Madness season.
āThey are a very young team with energy, enthusiasm and grit on the floor, and I think they are a lot better than the record they have,ā Pinzan wrote about the Terrapins in an interview. āDespite being young though, they are learning a lot every game and I am sure they will be able to transfer these lessons for the best time of the year coming up.ā
Meyers agreed that there is a lot to look forward to this March Madness. She said that with Coach Brenda Freseās game plans and strong assistant staff, the Terrapins have a strong chance of advancing throughout the competition.
According to Meyers, March Madness will be different for womenās basketball this year, pointing out that itās more popular right now than menās games, as womenās basketball is selling out arenas.
āI only think it’s gonna get better and it’s going to grow even more,ā Meyers said. āJust the marketing, the social media, the overall awareness of the women’s game. Fans are growing by the number.ā
Meyers believes that female basketball players have to rely more on their skill than their athleticism, which she believes makes womenās games just as ā if not more ā exciting than menās games. She said that over the past few years, there has been a strong shift in womenās viewership that has shrunk the gap between menās and womenās basketball, including from a technical standpoint, given that men and women play with the same level of equipment.
Regardless of where UMD ends up this March Madness, Meyers will be cheering the Terrapins on from across the pond ā especially the women.
Sports
Bisexual former umpire sues Major League Baseball for sexual harassment
Brandon Cooper claims female colleague sexually harassed him
A fired former umpire is suing Major League Baseball, claiming he was sexually harassed by a female umpire and discriminated against because of his gender and his sexual orientation.
Brandon Cooper worked in the minor league Arizona Complex League last year, and according to the lawsuit he filed Wednesday in federal court in Manhattan, he identifies as bisexual.
āI wanted my umpiring and ability to speak for itself and not to be labeled as āBrandon Cooper the bisexual umpire,āā he told Outsports. āI didnāt want to be labeled as something. It has been a passion of mine to simply make it to the Major Leagues.ā
But that didnāt happen. Instead of being promoted, he was fired. His suit names MLB and an affiliated entity, PDL Blue, Inc., and alleges he had endured a hostile work environment and wrongful termination and/or retaliation because of gender and sexual orientation under New York State and New York City law.
āHistorically the MLB has had a homogenous roster of umpires working in both the minor and major leagues,ā Cooper claims in his suit. āSpecifically, to date there has never been a woman who has worked in a (regular) season game played in the majors, and most umpires are still Caucasian men. To try to fix its gender and racial diversity issue, defendants have implemented an illegal diversity quota requiring that women be promoted regardless of merit.ā
Cooper claims former umpire Ed Rapuano, now an umpire evaluator, and Darren Spagnardi, an umpire development supervisor, told him in January 2023 that MLB had a hiring quota, requiring that at least two women be among 10 new hires.
According to the suit, Cooper was assigned to spring training last year and was notified by the senior manager of umpire administration, Dusty Dellinger, that even though he received a high rating in June from former big league umpire Jim Reynolds, now an umpire supervisor, that women and minority candidates had to be hired first.Ā
Cooper claims that upon learning Cooper was bisexual, fellow umpire Gina Quartararo insulted him and fellow umpire Kevin Bruno by using homophobic slurs and crude remarks. At that time, Quartararo and Cooper worked on the same umpiring crew and being evaluated for possible promotion to the big leagues.
This season, Quartararo is working as an umpire in the Florida State League, one of nine women who are working as minor league umpires.
Cooper said he notified Dellinger, but instead of taking action against Quartararo, he said MLB ordered Cooper to undergo sensitivity training. According to his lawsuit, he was also accused of violating the minor league anti-discrimination and harassment policy.
Cooperās suit says he met with MLB Senior Vice President of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Billy Bean ā who the Los Angeles BladeĀ reported in DecemberĀ is battling cancer.Ā
The lawsuit says at that meeting, Bean told the umpire that Quartararo claimed she was the victim, as the only female umpire in the ACL. Cooper said he told Bean Quartararo regularly used homophobic slurs and at one point physically shoved him. He also claims that he has video evidence, texts and emails to prove his claim.
But he said his complaints to Major League Baseball officials were ignored. His lawsuit said MLB passed him over for the playoffs and fired him in October. He said of the 26 umpires hired with Cooper, he was the only one let go.
Through a spokesperson, MLB declined to comment on pending litigation. Quartararo has also not publicly commented on the lawsuit.
Sports
Brittney Griner, wife expecting first child
WNBA star released from Russian gulag in December 2022
One year after returning to the WNBA after her release from a Russian gulag and declaring, āIām never playing overseas again,ā Phoenix Mercury star Brittney Griner and her wife announced they have something even bigger coming up this summer.
Cherelle, 31, and Brittney, 33, are expecting their first child in July. The couple shared the news with their 715,000 followers on Instagram.
āCanāt believe weāre less than three months away from meeting our favorite human being,ā the caption read, with the hashtag, #BabyGrinerComingSoon and #July2024.
Griner returned to the U.S. in December 2022 in a prisoner swap, more than nine months after being arrested in Moscow for possession of vape cartridges containing prescription cannabis.
In April 2023, at her first news conference following her release, the two-time Olympic gold medalist made only one exception to her vow to never play overseas again: To return to the Summer Olympic Games, which will be played in Paris starting in July, the same month āBaby Grinerā is due. āThe only time I would want to would be to represent the USA,ā she said last year.
Given that the unrestricted free agent is on the roster of both Team USA and her WNBA team, itās not immediately clear where Griner will be when their first child arrives.
The Griners purchased their āforever homeā in Phoenix just last year.
āPhoenix is home,ā Griner said at the Mercuryās end-of-season media day, according toĀ ESPN. āMe and my wife literally just got a place. This is it.ā
As the Los Angeles Blade reported last December, Griner is working with Good Morning America anchor Robin Roberts ā like Griner, a married lesbian ā on an ESPN television documentary as well as a television series for ABC about her life story. Cherelle is executive producer of these projects.
Next month, Grinerās tell-all memoir of her Russian incarceration will be published by Penguin Random House. Itās titled “Coming Home” and the hardcover hits bookstores on May 7.
Sports
Applause and criticism for Staley’s trans-inclusive stance
South Carolina Gamecocks womenās coach made comments on Sunday
If not for a conservative transphobic blogger, this moment should be a celebration of NCAA womenās basketball coach Dawn Staley and the women of the South Carolina Gamecocks.
On Sunday, they concluded their undefeated season with a decisive win and a championship title. But when Staley faced reporters before that big game, Outkickās Dan Zakheske asked her an irrelevant, clickbait question about transgender women in sports, referring to them as ābiological males.ā
Staley could have ignored the question, or stated she had no opinion, but instead the legendary coach offered a crystal clear endorsement of trans women competing in womenās sports, something outlawed in her home state of South Carolina for girls in kindergarten through college.
āIām of the opinion,ā said Staley, āIf youāre a woman, you should play. If you consider yourself a woman and you want to play sports or vice versa, you should be able to play. Thatās my opinion.ā
Zakheske clearly wasnāt satisfied with that declaration of allyship and Staley swiftly cut him off.
āYou want me to go deeper?ā she asked.
āDo you think transgender women should be able to participate,ā he started to say, when the coach stole the ball and took it downtown on a fastbreak. āThatās the question you want to ask? Iāll give you that. Yes. Yes. So, now the barnstormer people are going to flood my timeline and be a distraction to me on one of the biggest days of our game, and Iām okay with that. I really am.ā
Staley is herself a Hall of Fame player a leading voice for diversity.
Reaction to her comments were swift, from LGBTQ rights organizations, athletes and inclusion opponents.Ā
āCoach Staley simply spoke the truth that trans women are women and should play if they want,ā said Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of GLAAD, in a post on Instagram. āAll of us can take a page from Coach Staleyās playbook as a sports leader and as a person of high integrity guided by faith, compassion and common sense.ā
A White House pool reporter revealed President Joe Biden called Staley Sunday evening to congratulate her and the Gamecocks on their championship win. But itās not clear if she and the president, an outspoken supporter of trans rights, discussed her remarks on trans athletes.Ā
A number of Black leaders in the LGBTQ movement applauded Staley for taking a stand.Ā
āCoach Staley has always been a trailblazer, but sheās also shown that true leadership is about advancing justice and equality for everyone,ā said Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson. āBy expressing her full-throated support for transgender athletesā inclusion in sports, sheās sending an important message ā our shared humanity matters.
āCoach Staley showed courage and vulnerability, in choosing to answer the question and make a powerful statement of support for trans people on one of the biggest days and biggest stages in sports history,ā said Kierra Johnson, executive director of the National LGBTQ Task Force, in a statement. āNot only does that make her a leader we can all aspire to like, it makes her a class act. She has etched her legacy in the history books with her play, her coaching, her heart and her smarts.ā
In congratulating Staley on her championship title victory, Dr. David J. Johns, the CEO and executive director of the National Black Justice Coalition, also commended her for āher unwavering advocacy and support for transgender people in sports.ā
āIn a time when transgender athetes face unjust scrutiny, discrimination and exclusion from the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, her courage to speak truth to power and in support of inclusion and fairness sets a powerful example for us all, and is a testament to her integrity and compassion.ā
The NBJC leader was referring to Mondayās announcement by the NAIA, the governing body of athletic programs at small colleges nationwide, voting 20-0 to essentially ban trans women from competing with other women beginning Aug. 1, as ESPN reported.
āIt is a shocking and devastating development that the NAIA, an organization that has done so much to open doors, is now slamming those doors shut on transgender athletes,ā said Sasha Buchert, Lambda Legalās senior attorney and director of the organizationās nonbinary and trans rights project.Ā
āInstead of standing up in support of transgender young people, the NAIA has simply turned its back on them ā permanently depriving them of the benefits of competition. Would that they had the courage of victorious University of South Carolina womenās basketball coach Dawn Staley, who didnāt miss a beat in clarifying that transgender women should be able to play.ā
However, praise for Staleyās stance was not universal.
Riley Gaines, failed former college swimmer and paid shill for the anti-inclusion organization, Independent Womenās Forum, called Staley āentirely incompetent or a sell-outā on Fox News. āPersonally, I donāt think she believes what she said.ā
Gaines has turned her fifth-place tie with out trans NCAA champion Lia Thomas into a career as a crusader against inclusion and a former advisor to the presidential campaign of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Val Whiting, a former Stanford University and professional womenās basketball player, tweeted her strong disagreement with Staley. āA lot of my basketball sisters feel differently but trans women do not belong in womenās sports. Itās not fair nor safe for biological women. There has to be another solution for trans women to be able to compete athletically besides having them compete against biological women.ā
A lot of my basketball sisters feel differently but trans women do not belong in womenās sports. Itās not fair nor safe for biological women. There has to be another solution for trans women to be able to compete athletically besides having them compete against biological women.
— Val Whiting (@iamcoachval) April 7, 2024
Zaksheskeās Outkick colleague, anti-trans pundit David Hookstead, also went all-in with a transphobic post.
āDawn Staley says she supports men who identify as women competing against real women in sports. Her view could literally destroy womenās basketball forever. Why wonāt more people stand up for women?ā
Dawn Staley says she supports men who identify as women competing against real women in sports.
— David Hookstead (@dhookstead) April 6, 2024
Her view could literally destroy womenās basketball forever.
Why wonāt more people stand up for women? pic.twitter.com/2A59KTqvHb
Hookstead then boasted that Staley blocked his account.
Republican South Carolina Congresswoman Nancy Mace retweeted Zaksheskeās account of his interaction with Staley, calling her support of trans athletes āabsolute lunacy.ā That in turn won praise from Caitlyn Jenner, who retweeted Whiting and posted her thanks to Mace, along with this comment: āThere is nothing complicated about this issue!āĀ
What is complicated is that Jenner has never explained why she has competed with cisgender women in golf ever since her transition almost a decade ago.
Youāre a hypocrite. pic.twitter.com/42DKwA9jmF
— Art Candee šæš„¤ (@ArtCandee) April 7, 2024
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