Sheryl Swoopes (born March 25, 1971) is an American basketball player and three-time MVP of the WNBA and an Olympic Gold medalist. She began competing at age seven, in a local children's league called Little Dribblers. Coached under Dickie Faught and Kathey Granger, Swoopes was a member and junior on the 1988 Texas State Championship team. Swoopes is also the first female athlete to have a shoe named after her, Nike's Air Swoopes.

About coming out as a lesbian she said " "My reason for coming out isn't to be some sort of hero," Swoopes said. "I'm just at a point in my life where I'm tired of
having to pretend to be somebody I'm not. I'm tired of having to hide my feelings about the person I care about. About the person I love."

Two other WNBA players have come out as lesbian, but none as prominent as Sheryl Swoopes. Michele Van Gorp, of the Portland Fire and Minnesota Lynx and Sue Wicks of the New York Liberty have both come out as lesbian while they were playing.

Swoopes said, "I know there are going to be some negative things said, too. But it doesn't change who I am. I can't help who I fall in love with. No one can."

Sheryl Swoopes was married for three years and has an 8-year-old son, Jordan. "Discovering I'm gay just sort of happened much later in life," she said. ESPN.com identified her partner as former Old Dominion basketball coach Alisa Scott.

In 2008, Sheryl Swoopes made an appearance on Shirts & Skins, a reality series from the television channel LOGO. Swoopes flew out to mentor the San Francisco Rockdogs, a gay basketball team, and shared her experiences on basketball, family, faith, and coming out, helping to bring the team closer together.

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