The Valkyries just won the WNBA championship. The SF Giants are losing gay fans to them.

The Golden State Valkyries were the toast of the sports world this weekend, winning the first-ever WNBA Finals Game 7 in come-from-behind fashion in just the team’s second year of existence.

The San Francisco Giants on the other hand, in the franchise’s 144th season, posted their seventh worst season record ever and second worst since moving to San Francisco.

With a series of other issues, SF Chronicle columnist Ann Killion dubbed this the Giants’ “most abysmal season ever.”

A big reason: the team’s mishandling of Pride Night.

Beyond the drastic difference in winning success, this summer was a contrast of styles between the Valkyries and Giants for many sports fans in the Bay Area.

The Golden State Valkyries have unconditionally embraced the LGBTQ community from day one. Mark that word: unconditionally.

They won their game on the team’s Pride Night, which the Chronicle called “a truly special event,” and which one blogger called “the gayest night in sports history.”

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After the game, one of the gay players — Gabby Williams, who just won the WNBA Finals MVP award — said the team won the game “for the gays.”

Then there’s the San Francisco Giants, whose Pride Night this season — made worse by months of the team’s ongoing mishandling of the fall-out — was the most disastrous Pride Night in sports history.

No doubt, the Giants have been held up for decades as one of the most LGBTQ-friendly pro sports teams in America. And for good reason.

Elevating the fight against AIDS, joining an amicus brief in support of gay marriage, being one of two MLB teams (with the LA Dodgers) to wear the Pride caps at all… the Giants have a history of strong history of supporting the LGBTQ community.

That is history.

In present-day, the Giants allowed three players to deface the Pride caps with an intended anti-gay message on Pride Night, have refused to take any responsibility or apologize, or explain what the team will do to ameliorate the situation.

In doing all of this, the team has alienated a huge part of the LGBTQ community and their many supporters in the Bay Area. Buster Posey’s press gaggle alone shattered decades of trust.

Some SF fans have abandoned the Giants for the Valkyries

The contrast between the two teams had a financial impact as well — one that could linger for years, particularly if the Giants continue to refuse to apologize.

Throughout our “Dear Giants” letter series — highlighting actual messages fans sent to the team after Pride Night — we heard from fans numerous times that they were ditching the Giants for the Valkyries.

The teams play at similar times of the year, both starting in the spring and ending in autumn, the Valkyries filling a gap the Giants have left for San Francisco sports fans.

“Go look at how the Valkyries are building an amazing fan experience and truly inclusive community,” one straight fan wrote in his Dear Giants letter.

Plus, the two teams are headed in different directions in the win column.

With a strong front office, the Valkyries have eclipsed the Giants’ win percentage in both of the team’s first two seasons.

The Valkyries made it to the playoffs each of the franchise’s two years in existence. The Giants haven’t been to the playoffs since 2021 and only once since 2016.

Yikes.

What’s more, Giants legend Buster Posey was brought in to fix all of that. Instead, in two seasons he’s made it worse.

And of course, the fact that the Valkyries had three out LGBTQ players on the team this season certainly doesn’t hurt in attracting the community’s interest. The Giants have had zero in the team’s 144-year history.

To be sure, the Valkyries’ total fandom numbers aren’t going to exceed the Giants anytime soon. With a smaller arena, shorter history and playing in a WNBA league that just doesn’t draw the number of eyeballs that MLB does, total numbers are just a reality.

Yet for LGBTQ fans, particularly in the Bay Area, all of this is having a real impact.

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