Former WNBA Player Candice Wiggins Says She Was Bullied By Peers Because She’s Straight
A retired WNBA player says she was bullied by her peers because she is straight, and claims that “98 percent” of players in the league are gay.
In an interview with the San Diego Union-Tribune, Candice Wiggins — who played for four teams over the course of her eight-year WNBA career — called the league “conformist,” and claimed that she was taunted by other players.
“Me being heterosexual and straight, and being vocal in my identity as a straight woman was huge,” Wiggins said. “I would say 98 percent of the women in the WNBA are gay women. It was a conformist type of place. There was a whole different set of rules they (the other players) could apply.”
In its report, the Union-Tribune states that 10 percent of the 120 player league has come out publicly.
Wiggins believes she was targeted, to the point where she claims other players attempted to injure her on the court.
“People were deliberately trying to hurt me all of the time,” Wiggins said. “I had never been called the B-word so many times in my life than I was in my rookie season. I’d never been thrown to the ground so much. The message was: ‘We want you to know we don’t like you.’”
In a statement given to Vice Sports, Nneka Ogwumike — who is a forward for the Los Angeles Sparks and the president of the WNBA players’ union — said:
Our union is only as strong as our loyalty to and support for one another. What is key to that loyalty and support is our commitment to diversity and inclusion. As a union, we should and we will continue to celebrate the diversity that makes us special and lead by example. We must respect the rights of those we don’t agree with when they speak their mind. Whether one agrees or disagrees with the comments made recently by a former player or whether one has seen or experienced anything like what she has described, anything that impacts an inclusive culture should be taken seriously.
Read the complete story here, via the San Diego Union-Tribune.
[image via screengrab]
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