These 10 out LGBTQ women made history as firsts in sports
Out LGBTQ women have paved the way in sports, including gay players in a Hall of Fame and the first gay coach in a Super Bowl. The post These 10 out LGBTQ women made history as firsts in sports appeared first on Outsports.
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This listicle is part of Outsports’ monthlong series for Women’s History Month, “How women have led the way out of the closet in sports.”
“Pioneer” is a term often thrown around loosely, but these nine out LGBTQ women in sports exemplify the term.
Each of them has done something no publicly out gay, lesbian, bi or trans athlete had done before them.
Some like Billie Jean King are household names, while others are lesser-known but no less important.
We celebrate the women who have led the way out of the closet in sports.
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Billie Jean King — First out player in pro tennis
Billie Jean King is the most influential female voice in the LGBTQ sports movement since coming out in 1981 after being named in a palimony lawsuit. Rather than continue to hide, King embraced the moment and came out publicly.
“I thought about how my mom had taught me to be truthful,” King told Outsports in a recent interview. “I thought, ‘Well, who am I? I have to be me. Who is that?’ That would be to tell the truth.”
Since then, King has been a huge advocate for LGBTQ inclusion in sports and also for women, through the Women’s Sports Foundation. In addition, King and her wife, Ilana Kloss, are minority owners of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Los Angeles Sparks and Angel City FC.
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Katie Sowers — First out NFL coach
Katie Sowers was one of the first female assistant coaches in the NFL and the first out gay coach. In the 2019 season, she became the first out gay coach in Super Bowl history with the San Francisco 49ers. She came out in an interview with Outsports in 2017.
“No matter what you do in life, one of the most important things is to be true to who you are,” Sowers told Outsports. “There are so many people who identify as LGBT in the NFL, as in any business, that do not feel comfortable being public about their orientation.
“The more we can create an environment that welcomes all types of people, no matter their race, gender, orientation, religion, the more we can help ease the pain and burden that many carry every day.”
In February, Sowers and her twin sister, Liz, were named as the coaches for the University of Nebraska’s women’s flag football team. Liz will the head coach and Katie the associate head coach for a program set to debut in 2028. Katie also hopes to coach flag football when it makes its debut in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
Laura Ricketts — First out MLB team owner
When the Ricketts family bought the Chicago Cubs in 2009, Laura Ricketts immediately made history by becoming the first out LGBTQ owner in MLB history. Seven years later, she was front and center during the celebration when the Cubs won their first World Series in 108 years. In 2023, she led a group of investors to purchase the Chicago Red Stars and was instrumental in the club hosting a match at Wrigley Field in 2024 that broke an NWSL record with an attendance of 35,038.
Ricketts was ranked No. 2 on the Outsports Power 100 for 2025, which recognizes the most powerful LGBTQ people in sports.
Sue Wicks — First out player in the WNBA
Sue Wicks came out as the first gay WNBA player in 2002 in a casual way. Toward the end of her WNBA career Wicks was asked by a reporter from Time Out New York, “Are you gay?”
“He asked in such a matter-of-fact New York way that I could only answer with the same confident matter-of-fact New York way, ‘Yes,’” Wicks told Outsports in 2019. “I was already 35 years old and had lived around the world and had some ideas about who I was as a person and what made me happy. Just being myself, being true to myself, made me happy.”
Becky Hammon — First female coach in the NBA
Becky Hammon was hired by the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs in 2014, making her the first female full-time assistant coach in a major American sports league. In 2021, Hammon became head coach of the Las Vegas Aces of the WNBA, where she has thrived, leading the Aces to three titles.
Off the court, Hammon and her wife, Brenda Milano, are raising two sons — Cayden and Samuel. She told the Las Vegas Review-Journal last year of the “mommy guilt” she feels by being away from her boys regularly. “Nothing’s more important than your kids,” Hammon said. “It’s heavy because a mother’s heart is different, and I think it’s looked at by society differently, so you carry that around. But at the end of the day, you’ve got to do what you have to do to provide for your family, and hope to God they understand when they get older.”
Briana Scurry — First out player for USWNT
As the starting goalie for the U.S. Women’s National Team for their historic World Cup win in 1999, Brianna Scurry was both the only Black athlete on the team and the only out lesbian. She has the honor of being the first publicly out player to win a World Cup.
“There’s video of me in 1999 after we won, running into the stands to meet my then-girlfriend and the camera is watching me run up to her, and as soon as they realized it was a woman, cut away,” Scurry told a Minneapolis TV station in 2022. In 2018, Scurry married Chryssa Zizos, CEO of Live Wire Strategic Communications.
Liz Carmouche — First out UFC fighter
Liz Carmouche was the first out fighter to ever fight in the UFC, as part of the first women’s fight in UFC history against Ronda Rousey in 2013. “For so long I was closeted, so to finally be out is great for me. To do so in such a mainstream [sport] is so rewarding, since I went from one extreme to another extreme,” Carmouche told Outsports in 2013. “I’m excited to be part of history.” Carmouche is married and she and her wife have a son.
Christian Kahrl — First out editor of major baseball publication
Christina Kahrl made history as a co-founder of Baseball Prospectus in 1996, which led to her 10-year stint as an analyst-writer-editor at ESPN. Since 2021, she has been the sports editor of the San Francisco Chronicle. She came out as transgender in 2003.
“From an early age, I knew I was different,” Kahrl told Outsports in 2007. “I knew that I wasn’t like the other boys. I knew I wasn’t like the other girls; I couldn’t put my finger on it. I grew up feeling like an ‘odd duck.’ I didn’t stress out about it. I didn’t mind being different. I just knew that I was.”
Lars Niki.
Angela James — First out gay player in Hockey Hall of Fame
In 2010, Angela James became the first out gay player inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame as well as the only Black woman so honored. “I’m really honored to represent the female hockey players from all over the world,” James said of her induction. She also became the first Black woman to be inducted into the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame in 2008.
A star in the 1990s, James was called the “female Wayne Gretzky” and led the Canadian women’s hockey team to four world championships. She and her partner have three children.
Brittney Griner — First pro Draft pick to come out
Brittney Griner had reportedly planned a coming-out date that wasn’t this one. Yet when an ESPN reporter asked Griner a probing question, the eventual top WNBA Draft pick came out publicly, months before Michael Sam would do the same ahead of the NFL Draft.
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The post These 10 out LGBTQ women made history as firsts in sports appeared first on Outsports.
