There are those who don't like the WNBA because they think it's too feminist. And then there are those who don't like the WNBA because they think it's too gay.

Is it possible that for some people the two views are related?

If you watch an entire season of WNBA broadcasts, you'll probably never hear the words "feminism" or "gender equity." If you go to a game, you're more likely to walk into a "Faith and Family Night" promotion than a "Women's Empowerment Night" promotion. If you interview a player, she's more likely to espouse Christianity than feminism.

So where do people get the idea that the league exists largely as a manifestation of controversial feminist activism?

Is it possible that the mere presence of lesbians (closeted players on the floor, less closeted fans in the stands) causes people to impute a certain political agenda to the entire league?

UPDATE: I don't at all mean to imply that Eric is homophobic, or a bigot, or that he agrees with folks like Debbie Schlussel.

Indeed, both from reading Eric's blog for the last couple years, and from dozens of email conversations, I know that the opposite is true.

Everyone knows that the W has a substantial lesbian fan base and player contingent (though the players are all closeted, at least partly). I think that some people, from that fact, infer that the league stands for a certain political agenda. For some people, that inference may make the WNBA more attractive; for others, it may make the league less attractive.

In any event, I don't know whether Eric makes that sort of inference, or if he does, what it would mean for him. I shouldn't have written this post the way I did; it resulted in an insinuation about my friend that I didn't mean to make.