The Lack of Support for Brittney Griner Shows How Society Continues to Fail Black Women & Queer People

The first time I heard of Brittney Griner, we were both sophomores at our respective religious universities. I was living in Cincinnati at the time, studying sport management with big hopes of working in sports and entertainment. Griner was in Waco, Texas, a place much smaller and much more conservative-with a lot less Black folk. Given the fact that I was working in intercollegiate athletics, but also eating, sleeping, and breathing it, I certainly had heard of a 6'9" rising star named Brittney Griner at Baylor University.

I remember Griner dominating anyone who came her way. She was unstoppable. NCAA analysts compared her dominance to the likes of Shaquille O’Neal at LSU, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar at UCLA, and Wilt Chamberlain at Kansas. No, this was Brittney Griner, a bastion of talent that was building a name for herself.

If it weren’t for Brittney Griner, as well as the coach at the time, Kim Mulkey, I’m not sure the Baylor women’s basketball program would have the success it has had this century. She put them on the map.

After four years at Baylor and one NCAA national championship, Brittney Griner was drafted with the 1st pick overall in the 2013 WNBA Draft. She has continued her success on the professional stage, as a…