From Kiss-In Protests to Ellie the Elephant: Why the WNBA Took 30 Years to Get This Gay

Washington Mystics Rookie Lauren Betts was on yet another TikTok livestream recently with former and current teammates Charliese Leger-Walker, Angela Dugalić, and Cotie McMahon. “I saw a comment that said Ang should try women,” Betts blurted out to the group. “I said, ‘I agree.’” The quartet burst out laughing, with Leger-Walker adding, “Hey Ang, happy Pride.” Dugalić, who was cracking up during the whole exchange, decided to sing in response. “Be who you are,” she belted to the group. In basically the same breath, she quickly switched back to her spoken voice, to make sure her next response was taken in the right spirit: “I’m not there yet, sorry.”McMahon emphasized that Dugalić said the word “yet” rather than shutting down the possibility completely. Betts raised her eyebrows, prompting Dugalić to clarify with a smile and note that she’s not there “period,” rather than “yet,” all while McMahon continued to cackle. This moment, which has since been viewed, clipped, and reposted by thousands of people, is just one of the growing recent examples of WNBA queer inside jokes that players and their fans are making about each other and the league.Happy Pride Month from the former UCLA Bruins and Cotie McMahon too 😂Via @bettsandpieces on X pic.twitter.com/Dbs37gpOa3— WNBA Got Game (@wnbagotgame) June 1, 2026 “I feel like it’s not something that you have to hide from,” Betts tells Them of her comfort talking about sexuality in that viral exchange. “I feel like we’re past that time where you have to hide your sexuality, and the conversations about that. So I feel like, for me and my team, that’s something that we openly talk about, and I'm sure a lot of teams do as well.”During the WNBA’s first-ever season 30 years ago, conversations like this would have been absolutely inconceivable. The first player to come out publicly was New York Liberty backup center Sue Wicks in 2002 when she answered a question about he