By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Elena Delle Donne, the second pick in the 2013 WNBA draft and last season’s league MVP, came out in a recent interview with magazine Vogue.
The article states: “Elena divides her time between traveling with her team, the Chicago Sky, and her family’s home in the rolling green landscape of Wilmington, Delaware. She and her fiancee, Amanda Clifton, keep apartments in both Chicago and Wilmington.”
The player has voiced her support over other lesbian players in the league in the past, including Brittney Griner who was the number one pick in the 2013 draft.
After the news about her and her fiancee were spread, Donne spoke to Chicago Tribune: “I decided I’m not at all going to hide anything. The biggest thing is respecting Amanda’s privacy as well. She’s not on the stage, she doesn’t need to be interviewed and I don’t want her to have to feel that way… It’s not a coming out article or anything. I’ve been with her for a very long time now and people who are close to me know that and that’s that.”
Donne’s coming out puts into perspective how differently male and female players are treated. Had it been for the first two drafts of the NBA to be publicly out, the reactions would have been blown out of proportion.