Why gay NBA fans should embrace San Antonio Spurs superstar Victor Wembanyama
Victor Wembanyama scored big in the first game of his third NBA season with the San Antonio Spurs. Where do gay fans stand?
Mark
Victor Wembanyama served notice in the first game of the NBA season for his San Antonio Spurs — Get ready.
The 7-foot-4 third-year player from France led the Spurs as they spoiled the rookie debut of former Duke player Cooper Flagg, routing the Dallas Mavericks in their season openers, 125-92.
The results is quite the turnaround from last season, when the Mavericks beat the Spurs three of the four times they played. The Spurs’ one win last season was by 10 points. This was a 33-point win by a team that finished five games behind the Mavericks last season.
While the Mavericks added this year’s “generational talent” in rookie Cooper Flagg since last season, the Spurs still have last year’s “generational talent,” Victor Wembanyama.
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Now it’s Wemby on everyone’s mind who watched the game. He had 40 points in the round — third-most in the league in these first games — and 15 rebounds, most of the week so far.
Fans reportedly chanted “M-V-P” in the waning minutes of the game. It seems the scouting reports and early-career indications of this player — one of the tallest in NBA history — having all pointed to a true “generational talent” with height and agility could very well be real.
With Wemby poised to take over the NBA, can gay fans get on board?
Victor Wembanyama and gay fans
We can’t find anything of Victory Wembanyama saying anything about gay people or the LGBTQ community.
Yet there are reasons gay, bi and trans fans can have confidence cheering on this young man.
One of his nicknames is “The Alien.” Why? Because at 7-foot-4, 236 pounds, he is a proverbial “unicorn.” Or as his nickname goes, an “alien.” At just his height, there are only a handful of people on earth who can relate.
Growing up, he always felt “different,” well exceeding the average height for his age before he was a teenager.
“When you’re 2 meters tall at 12, people look at you like a phenomenon,” he said — that’s a bit over 6-feet tall. “You have to get used to it.”
It reminds me of the undercurrent of the X-Men series, these people who were born with inherent differences even though at times those differences translated into incredible advantages.
I’ve long said that, while I thought as a kid that being gay was a horrible affliction, I now view it as one of the best things that ever happened to me. Yes, “Thank God I’m Gay.” TGIG.
Wemby has come to the same conclusion about his height, using it to build an incredible career for himself. His life experiences make him particularly able to understand the struggles of LGBTQ people.
Victor Wembanyama was raised in France
Also of note is his upbringing in France.
The country decriminalized homosexuality in 1791. That’s over 200 years before the United States did the same at the national level. In addition, same-sex marriage has been nationally legal for over a decade, and opinion polls reflect widespread acceptance of gay people.
Chances are, Wembanyama was raised — and he was raised near Paris — in a culture and community that widely accepted gay people.
In addition, still at only 21, he seems to understand the importance of politeness and grace with the people around him, including fans. The chances he’d be disrespectful to a gay fan? Pretty close to zero.
For all of these reasons, Wemby gets our stamp of approval. If he can raise the San Antonio Spurs to the heights of an NBA Championship, or win an NBA MVP award himself, we think the community can feel good about getting behind him.
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