Watch Parties, Dildos, and Equal Pay: How Queer Valkyries Fans Claim Space in the WNBA

The WNBA’s first Bay Area franchise spectacularly exceeded expectations this summer. As the first expansion team in the league to make the playoffs during their inaugural season, the Golden State Valkyries have sold out every home game, packing Chase Center with 18,000 fans who — and this can not be overstated — are at the forefront of queerness in the WNBA.

Indeed, the Valkyries bring an even gayer crowd to a league that, after years of insisting on a regime of straightness, has recently undergone a gay transformation. As one of many queer fans who grew up in the Bay, I can tell you that our fanbase arrived hungry, surviving decades in a region where pro women’s basketball teams only went defunct (San Francisco Pioneers, 1979-81; San Jose Lasers, 1996-98; Sacramento Monarchs, 1997-2009). Even months into the Valkyries first season, generations of queers in the Bay Area remain stunned to have a WNBA team that we call our own.