Sheryl Swoopes is arguably the finest female basketball player ever. No, check that, actually there is no argument, as a three time MVP in the Woman's National Basketball Association (WNBA), and three-time gold medal Olympian, she is the best. So when she came out of the closet recently, there was excitement in the gay and lesbian community about a high profile public figure declaring herself a lesbian.

The Swoopes story reminds me of one of the first columns I wrote about sexual orientation. Writing in 2003, I noted that the character Dr. Kerry Weaver on the television drama, ER, had gone from straight to gay in about one season. I wondered why change from straight to gay was accepted by gay activist groups who say sexual orientation cannot change. Had her character gone from gay to straight, the show might have been denounced as portraying an unscientific view of sexual orientation. After all, major mental health groups all say sexual orientation is unchangeable. I was attacked for using a fictional character to illustrate a change in sexual orientation that, critics say, cannot happen in real life.

Apparently so. As one who studies how people resolve sexual identity conflicts, her story is fascinating. She told the Houston Chronicle that she and her husband divorced for the same reasons that many people do: ?Probably for about the last year, year and a half of my marriage we were just going in different directions. It got to a point to where I knew it was over with and really didn't want to do anything else to make it work.? As she told ESPN, her divorce wasn't due to a conflict over being gay.

I suspect there will be those who say she was in denial about her ?true? sexuality but they would need to explain away most everything Ms. Swoopes said about herself. As far as bisexuality goes, Ms. Swoopes was asked directly by Cyd Ziegler of Outsports.com if her marriage really means she is bisexual. Ms. Swoopes answer: ?Nope, I'm not bisexual.? She told Outsports.com that she began thinking of herself as gay after commencing her relationship with Scott and several years without feelings for men.

Gay political groups may be ambivalent or worse about Ms. Swoopes story. Like PFLAG's Mr. Schlittler, they often are quite hostile to those who describe changes in sexual identity. Since polls show support for gay political objectives is higher among people who believe same sex attraction is inborn, she may feel some pressure to change her story or her view of it.

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