Brittney Griner is one of the most decorated out female athletes ever. But over the last year, the WNBA star has become something greater: a symbol for the precarious nature of freedom itself.
Griner was wrongfully detained in Russia for 10 months due to dubious charges of drug smuggling. After arduous negotiations, the Biden Administration secured her release last December; and this season, she’s taking to the basketball court for the first time in two years.
“I’m never going overseas to play again unless I’m representing my country at the Olympics,” she said in December at her first press conference back on U.S. soil.
Like many WNBA players, the Phoenix Mercury standout played overseas during the offseason to earn extra money. Her salary in Russia was more than $1 million annually, whereas the WNBA’s maximum salary is $228,094.
In addition to shedding light on the plight of unjustly imprisoned people around the world, Griner’s detention exposed the deep structural inequalities between men’s and women’s sports in the U.S.
Griner’s list of athletic achievements are incredible: two Olympic gold medals, a WNBA championship, an NCAA championship, eight All-Star appearances and two scoring titles. The No. 1 pick in the 2013 WNBA Draft, she publicly came out as gay before entering the league.
“Being one that’s out, it’s just being who you are,” she said in an interview with Sports Illustrated. “Just be who you are. Don’t worry about what other people are going to say, because they’re always going to say something, but, if you’re just true to yourself, let that shine through. Don’t hide who you really are.”
For the last decade, Griner, 32, hasn’t been shy about sharing her private life on social media. Her Instagram feed is filled with adoring photos of her wife, Cherelle, whom she married in 2019.
Cherelle, an attorney, was instrumental in bringing attention to her wife’s detainment. “I won’t go down until she’s back,” she told “Good Morning America” last May. “Every single day matters for me to be sound, for me to be alert, for me to be attentive, to make sure that she comes back.”
Brittney and Cherelle communicated sporadically via handwritten letters through her imprisonment, and their love for one another never wavered. Before Griner entered court for her faux trial, she wished Cherelle good luck on her upcoming bar exam.
When Brittney was freed from her Russian penal colony in December, Cherelle was in the Oval Office, sitting beside President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. “Today, my family is whole,” she said at a news conference.
The support for Griner was immense: NBA and WNBA stars wore “we are BG” shirts prior to games, and out soccer star Megan Rapinoe read aloud a tribute to Griner while accepting the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Her release was a celebratory event throughout the sports world, and the country as a whole.
Now Griner is back on the court where she belongs, and more visible than ever. Russian law enforcement tried to break her.
They failed.
“I know this sounds so small, but, you know, dying in practice and hard workouts. You find a way to just grind it out,” she said in her aforementioned December presser. “Just put your head down and just keep moving forward. You know, you can never stand still.”
This season, Griner and the Mercury will be part of a campaign in support of other Americans detained overseas, including former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan and Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, both of whom are still in Russia.
Griner has always been a basketball superstar and champion for LGBTQ+ visibility. And now, she’s a national hero.
Welcome to Queerty’s Pride50. We’re celebrating the members from our community who are responsible for some of the most inspiring and extraordinary moments for LGBTQ people over the last year. See all the honorees
