In 2005, WNBA star Sheryl Swoopes made headlines when she shared she was in a same-sex relationship. The announcement thrust her into the spotlight as the first openly gay professional athlete to come out at the height of a professional career in sports.
But, in June 2011, the Tulsa Shock star said she was engaged to a man.
When the WNBA began in 1997, Swoopes was married to Eric Jackson and was pregnant with her son, Jordan. In 2005, she told ESPN writer LZ Granderson that she was gay and in a long-term relationship with Alisa Scott. In that interview, Swoopes said, “My reason for coming out now isn’t to be some sort of hero. 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.”
Swoopes’ relationship with Scott had been fairly well-known to those in the media who regularly covered women’s basketball. Many lauded her decision to publicly acknowledge it and the relationship was seen as a change in the overall climate of homosexuality in athletics.
Last fall, however, Swoopes shared that she was “in a different situation,” meaning she was no longer in a relationship with a woman, but in love with a man she had known for some time.
Swoopes has not renounced homosexuality but has said that “life happens,” and left it at that when asked about her past proclamation.
No details on the upcoming nuptials were released at press time.
