Brittney Griner, an American basketball player, was detained in Russia in 2022 for marijuana possession and incarcerated for 10 months.

She was sentenced to 9 years in a Russian prison for drug possession, but was released in a swap for arms dealer Viktor Bout.

Griner's detention strained US-Russia diplomatic relations and raised concerns about foreign prisoners in Russian jails.

The Biden administration offered a prisoner swap for Griner's release, and Vice President Kamala Harris attended her comeback game in a show of support.

Griner faced harsh conditions in the Russian penitentiary system, including small beds and limited basic necessities.

Griner received thousands of supportive letters from fans, helping her cope with detention.

Griner's detention has reportedly caused her unnecessary trauma and impacted her mental health.

Griner is receiving medical treatment and plans to write a memoir about her experiences to process her ordeal and raise awareness for detained Americans.

Griner's case highlights the intersection of sports, gender issues, and politics.

The US government classified Griner as wrongfully detained, sparking public outcry and petitions, including a plea from over 1,200 Black women leaders to Biden.

Griner's detention in Russia is seen as politically motivated, potentially compounded by her LGBTQ status.

Griner's case highlights the dangers of Russia's justice system for LGBTQ+ individuals.

Griner's experience highlights the importance of supporting women's sports and investing in women's athletics, and can advocate for policy changes like equal pay and protection for women in sports.

Griner's release has sparked calls for the release of other detained Americans in Russia, like Paul Whelan.

Griner's arrest and release reflect the complex US-Russia relationship.

Griner's return has brought record viewership to the WNBA and positivity to the Mercury locker room, also highlighting pay disparity in women's sports.

Brittney Griner, an American basketball player, was detained in Russia in 2022 for marijuana possession and incarcerated for 10 months.

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Content: Democracy Dies in Darkness

Brittney Griner gets one-year deal from Phoenix Mercury to return to WNBA

Brittney Griner had intended to play for the Phoenix Mercury this season, and it became official Friday.

Per the WNBA’s transactions wire, the Phoenix Mercury signed the seven-time all-star, who had spent about 10 months held in Russia after being arrested at an airport in February. The State Department considered her “wrongfully detained,” and she was sentenced to 9½ years in prison after pleading guilty to bringing vape cartridges with cannabis oil into the country. Griner was released in December and returned to the United States in a prisoner exchange for arms dealer Viktor Bout.

While pleading guilty, Griner said she made an “honest mistake” and didn’t realize the vape cartridges were in her bag. She has played for Russian squad UMMC Ekaterinburg during WNBA offseasons.

The Mercury signed Griner, 32, to a one-year contract worth $165,100, per HerHoopsStats.com, though the deal had not been announced as of Saturday night. She missed the 2022 season but had averaged 20.5 points and a career-high 9.5 rebounds in 2021 while helping the Mercury to the WNBA Finals, where it lost to the Chicago Sky in four games. She has spent her entire WNBA career with the Mercury, which made her the No. 1 draft pick in 2013 and claimed the WNBA title a year later.

Elena Delle Donne is fully recovered and back to being Elena Delle Donne

The signing further bolsters the Mercury roster — and guard Diana Taurasi signed Saturday to spend a 19th season with Phoenix. The 40-year-old is the league’s all-time leading scorer, but the end of her career is near. Still, the Mercury brings back a core of Taurasi, Griner, Skylar Diggins-Smith and Sophie Cunningham.

Griner’s return put the WNBA’s travel methods back in the spotlight; after her detainment in Russia, she is expected to need to take private flights for security reasons. WNBA rules do not allow teams to charter private flights, a point of contention for the players union. President Biden also came under fire for releasing Bout, who was arrested in 2008 and sentenced to 25 years in 2012 for supporting terrorism and conspiring to kill Americans.

“It’s through hardship that character is revealed, and over the last nine months, we have seen the best of so many,” Griner’s agent, Lindsay Kagawa Colas, said in a statement after her release. “At the top of that list are BG and President Biden. Throughout this ordeal, BG has carried herself with courage, grace and grit; and President Biden made us a promise, and then kept his word and did what was necessary to bring her home. We are forever grateful for his follow-through on that commitment.”

From December: Griner ‘compassionate, humble’ after release from Russia

Griner became a household name during her detainment. WNBA players did what they could to keep her in the news, urging Biden to bring her home and counting the days she was detained. The basketball community celebrated her release two months ago, and now she’s in line to be back on the court this spring.

“I have been fortunate enough to be around BG in both basketball and social settings and have loved being around her,” Washington Mystics General Manager Mike Thibault said after she was released. “Her energy and zest for life has always stood out, and it’s so wonderful to know that she is free from this nightmare and will be reunited with her wife, family and friends.”

She was sentenced to 9 years in a Russian prison for drug possession, but was released in a swap for arms dealer Viktor Bout.

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Content:
Brittney Griner makes her WNBA comeback on "day of joy"

Los Angeles, California - Brittney Griner made her WNBA comeback for her Phoenix Mercury team on Friday, after spending 10 months in a prison in Russia.

In her first competitive game for almost two years, the center finished with 18 points and six rebounds, but could not prevent Phoenix from slumping to a 94-71 loss to the Los Angeles Sparks.

"It felt good. It felt real good. It felt like the last time I played," Griner said in an on-court interview at the end of the first quarter.

"I appreciate everything a little bit more, all of the small moments," she added. "Tomorrow is not guaranteed, you don’t know what it’s going to look like."

Athletes Ja Morant speaks out after suspension for second gun video

Griner had been given nine years in prison in Russia for drug possession after being detained in 2022 at a Moscow area airport for having a small amount of cannabis oil in her luggage.

She was released after 10 months in exchange for the notorious arms dealer Viktor Bout, who was serving a 25-year sentence in the US.

VP Harris present for Griner's "day of joy"

US Vice President Kamala Harris was also at the Crypto.com arena for the game and gave the Mercury a pre-game speech.

"Thank you for all that you did in supporting Brittney. Because I know that was rough and so difficult for you as a team, as a family," Harris told the team.

Griner said "it was nice to be able to see her face-to-face and thank her for everything."

Athletes Tom Brady gives NFL rookie quarterbacks key advice: "It's the only thing you can do"

For the first time since last season, Phoenix coach Vanessa Nygaard opened her pre-game comments without announcing how many days Griner had been jailed.

"Today is a day of joy. An amazing, amazing thing has happened," Nygaard said.

Cover photo: USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect

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Griner's detention strained US-Russia diplomatic relations and raised concerns about foreign prisoners in Russian jails.

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Content: - The Washington Times - Friday, July 1, 2022

As pressure mounts on President Biden to take more aggressive action to get Moscow to release jailed WNBA star Brittney Griner, the international chatter increasing points to a prisoner swap for convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.

Russian media and Bout’s lawyer, Steve Zissou, say Russian officials want to secure Bout’s release and that Griner, who has been locked up in Russia since February, could be part of a deal.

“I would be surprised if any American was repatriated without Viktor Bout also being sent home to his family,” Zissou told The Washington Times.

Bout is serving a 25-year sentence in federal prison. He was convicted of conspiracy to kill U.S. citizens, delivering anti-aircraft missiles, and providing aid to a terrorist organization, charges his lawyer disputes.

Another detained American, former Marine Paul Whelan, who was arrested in Russia on espionage charges in 2018, could also be part of a prisoner swap for Bout.

Mr. Zissou said the deal would likely have to include Bout. The lawyer met last month with Russia’s ambassador to the U.S., Anatoly Antonov, who said that freeing Bout “was Russia’s number one priority,” according to Mr. Zissou.

Griner, meanwhile, made her first appearance in court on Friday and was accused of possessing “a significant amount of cannabis oil,” which is a banned substance in Russia. She faces likely conviction and a decade in prison when her trial resumes on July 7.

Griner, 31, was arrested at the airport in Moscow on Feb. 17 for allegedly carrying vape cartridges with hashish oil. She was visiting the country to play for a Russian basketball team after the conclusion of the WNBA season.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied Griner is being held as a political pawn, The Associated Press reported.

“The facts are that the famous athlete was detained in possession of prohibited medication containing narcotic substances,” Peskov told reporters on Friday. “In view of what I’ve said, it can’t be politically motivated.”

Still, Russia’s desire to free Bout complicates matters for Mr. Biden, who is weathering intense criticism for failing to secure the release of Griner, a center for the Phoenix Mercury and a two-time Olympic gold medalist.

Dozens of organizations, including women’s and LGBTQ groups, have pressed Mr. Biden to step up efforts to secure Griner’s release. They called on the president “to make a deal to get Brittney back home to America immediately and safely.”

While Bout’s lawyer disputes the charges against him, Bout was convicted of far more serious crimes than Griner’s drug charge, which could make it difficult for the Biden administration to agree to a swap.

Griner’s high-profile detainment comes at a historically difficult point in the diplomatic relationship between the U.S. and Russia. Griner was arrested just days before Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered Russian troops to invade Ukraine on February 24.

The U.S. has condemned the invasion and responded by providing Ukraine with weapons and other support to defend itself from Mr. Putin’s forces.

With Griner in detention, Russian officials are now intensifying efforts to secure the release of Bout, whose targeting and conviction by the United States has long been viewed as an attack on Russian sovereignty.

Russian media is reporting that a swap for Bout is on the table.

“Currently, talks are underway on exchanging Bout for Griner,” Tass news reported, citing an unnamed Russian source.

Nicknamed the “Merchant of Death,” Bout was convicted in 2011 in a U.S. government sting operation of planning to smuggle arms to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). The witnesses hired to portray FARC told Bout the arms would be used to target U.S. military serving in Colombia.

Bout, 55, is about five years from completing his sentence and is in failing health, his lawyer said.

Mr. Zissou said he is trying to elevate the circumstances surrounding his client’s case to improve his appeal as a candidate for a prisoner swap.

The U.S. targeted Bout while he was living in Moscow and retired from running an air transport company that also smuggled arms from one country to another.

The U.S. government paid more than $10 million to criminals as part of the operation to catch Bout.

“Entrapment is exactly what happened,” Mr. Zissou said.

Mr. Zissou said exchanging Griner for Bout is “a no brainer,” because his client will be freed in a few years regardless.

Last week, Russian officials extended Griner’s pretrial detention by six months. With Russia’s acquittal rate in criminal cases at less than 1%, it’s unlikely she will be able to return to the U.S. without a prisoner exchange.

Pressure is also on Mr. Biden to also secure the release of Mr. Whelan, 52, who is serving a 16-year sentence in a Russian prison camp.

“It’s certainly conceivable that a swap for Whelan and Bout gets agreed to, and then at the end of Griner’s trial, if she’s convicted, she just gets pardoned and sent home,” Mr. Zissou said.

In a statement provided to The Times, the State Department declined to provide details about the talks to free Griner.

“We have no higher priority than the safety and security of U.S. citizens overseas,” a State Department spokesman said. “The Department of State has determined that the Russian Federation has wrongfully detained U.S. citizen Brittney Griner. The U.S. government will continue to provide appropriate support to Griner and her family. We will continue to press for her release.”

• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.

Copyright © 2022 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.

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The Biden administration offered a prisoner swap for Griner's release, and Vice President Kamala Harris attended her comeback game in a show of support.

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Russian court sentences Brittney Griner to 9 years, raising pressure on Biden

A Russian court Thursday sentenced U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner to nine years in a penal colony after convicting her on a drug charge, a harsh penalty that keeps her fate entwined with the geopolitical showdown over the war in Ukraine and ramps up already intense pressure on President Joe Biden to win her release.

The U.S. government contends that she is among several Americans who have been “wrongfully detained” by Russia, used as bargaining chips in the increasingly hostile relationship between Moscow and Washington. The Biden administration has offered a prisoner swap involving Griner, but Russian officials said it was premature to discuss a deal while her case was underway.

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Now that the trial is concluded, Biden faces a difficult choice between standing firm on his proposal to trade for Griner and another American, Paul Whelan, or sweetening the offer somehow, with either position liable to draw domestic criticism.

Meanwhile the Kremlin can use them as leverage, with no incentive to resolve the cases quickly. Griner’s supporters, voicing horror at the verdict and sentence, are clamoring for the president to do something, while the administration is wary of giving in to Russian tactics it has all but labeled blackmail.

“My administration will continue to work tirelessly and pursue every possible avenue to bring Brittney and Paul Whelan home safely as soon as possible,” Biden said in a statement after the verdict.

Griner, 31, one of her sport’s biggest global stars, sat mostly expressionless, eyes downcast, leaning her long frame toward the bars of the defendant’s box in a cramped courtroom outside Moscow to hear as the words of the judge, Anna Sotnikova, were quietly translated for her. She had already pleaded guilty, and conviction is all but certain in Russian courts, so the verdict was a foregone conclusion; the real question was about sentencing.

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The answer was devastating. The sentence was near the 10-year maximum for her conviction for attempting to smuggle narcotics into the country, based on two vape cartridges containing hashish oil found in Griner’s luggage when she arrived in February, a week before President Vladimir Putin sent Russian forces to Ukraine.

She and her legal team had hoped for a more lenient penalty based on her guilty plea, her statement that she had not meant to take the cartridges to Russia, and testimony that she used the substance legally in the United States to manage pain.

“I made an honest mistake, and I hope that in your ruling that it doesn’t end my life here,” she said before the sentencing.

She told the court that while she took responsibility for her actions, “I had no intent to break Russian law.” She said that after recovering from a bout of COVID, she had packed hurriedly to rejoin the Russian team she plays for in the WNBA offseason, and had accidentally left the cartridges in her luggage.

Griner’s defense team called the ruling “absolutely unreasonable,” said the court had “completely ignored all the evidence of the defense, and most importantly, the guilty plea,” and vowed to appeal. Elizabeth Rood, deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, attended the court session and called the result “a miscarriage of justice.”

Russian officials have insisted that Griner’s case is simply the justice system running its course, with no political overtones — a claim that their U.S. counterparts and many Western analysts dismissed as absurd.

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William Pomeranz, a Russia expert and acting director of the Kennan Institute, a research group in Washington, noted that Griner was sentenced not to a prison but to a penal colony, which tends to mean a more remote location — many are in Siberia — and harsher conditions.

“She’s probably going to go to a penal colony that’s in the middle of Russia where she won’t know anybody,” he added. “They won’t be able to come and visit. Penal colonies can sometimes be very severe. It will be a tremendous test of her mental state if she ends up going to a penal colony.”

The United States has few options, he said. “It will just depend on the Russians and how fast they want to make a deal.”

Fellow basketball players, male and female, and basketball executives took to social media to voice support for Griner and grief at the verdict. Griner’s team, the Phoenix Mercury, said in a statement: “We remain heartbroken for her, as we have every day for nearly six months. We remain grateful to and confident in the public servants working every day to return her to her family and us.”

With Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and the indiscriminate destruction it has caused, relations between Washington and Moscow are more confrontational and bitter than they have been in decades. The United States has rallied the West to send arms and other aid to Ukraine, and to punish Moscow with economic sanctions, looking for opportunities to ratchet up the pressure.

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The two sides have made prisoner exchanges before, most recently in April, when Russia released Trevor Reed, an American held on what his family said was a bogus assault charge, in return for a Russian pilot convicted in the United States of cocaine trafficking charges. But rarely have proposed swaps come amid such tension, or involved anyone as prominent as Griner.

In a sign of how high the stakes are for Washington, Griner’s fate was among the topics discussed last Friday by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, in their first direct conversation since before the invasion.

The Biden administration has offered to trade Griner and Whelan for Viktor Bout, who is serving a 25-year sentence for a 2011 conviction on a federal charge of conspiring to sell weapons to people posing as terrorists intent on killing Americans. Whelan, detained in Russia since 2018, was convicted of espionage and sentenced to 16 years.

Russia made an unspecified “bad faith” counteroffer, the White House said Monday, which U.S. officials said they did not consider serious.

John Kirby, spokesperson for the National Security Council, told reporters Thursday, “I don’t think it would be helpful to Brittney or to Paul for us to talk more publicly about where we are in the talks and what the president might or might not be willing to do.”

“Conversations are ongoing at various levels,” he added.

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If Biden sticks to his initial offer, he could face accusations of not doing enough.

Griner’s wife, Cherelle Griner, and other supporters have mounted an effective public campaign to pressure the president to win her release. Supporters worry about her treatment in a country where anti-American and anti-gay vitriol are deeply embedded in popular views and official propaganda. Images of a grim-faced Griner being led, handcuffed, in and out of court, towering over her armed guards, have become commonplace in U.S. and international media.

The administration could make a more attractive offer, but U.S. officials already worry that deals for prisoners could encourage hostile foreign governments to detain Americans on trumped-up charges in exchange for concessions like freeing their own wrongdoers. Some Republicans have already complained that Biden’s existing offer creates such an incentive.

A 6-foot-9 center, Griner won a college national championship with Baylor in 2012, a WNBA championship with the Mercury in 2014, Olympic gold medals with the U.S. team at the 2016 and 2020 games, and four EuroLeague championships with the Russian team UMMC Yekaterinburg. Like many players in the WNBA, where salaries are much lower than in the NBA, Griner — who also played one season for a professional team in China — has played overseas to supplement her income.

Griner faced harsh conditions in the Russian penitentiary system, including small beds and limited basic necessities.

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Content: Brittney Griner is ‘OK’ Despite Russian Extended Detention for Drug Charge

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  • Brittney Griner is “OK”Insider heard from a source that the Russian jail was holding him, even though he was not in it.
  • The WNBA star has met with her legal team “multiple times a week,”Source added
  • Russia announced that Griner’s imprisonment would be extended to May on Friday.

Brittney Griner — the WNBA superstar who has been held in Russia for several weeks — is doing “OK”Insider was told by a source familiar with the situation that Russian prisoners are being held in Russian prisons.

Since February 17, Russian agents took custody of the 6-foot-9 center. They claimed that she had vape cartridges containing cannabis oil in her luggage. Insider has heard from a source who said that Griner’s had been in custody for the center since February 17th, when agents at Sheremetyevo airport claimed she found vape cartridges containing cannabis oil in her luggage. “Russian legal team has seen her multiple times a week.”

Griner was handcuffed at a Moscow court one month after her arrest. This was as her legal team challenged her ongoing detention.

Insider was told by a source that Griner’s legal team approached the hearing on Thursday “with the hopes of having Brittney transferred to house arrest.” Instead, the court ruled that the two-time Olympic gold medalist must remain in custody until at least May 19 — a decision that “was not unexpected,”According to the source.

The person — who is familiar with Griner’s legal circumstances but spoke on the condition of anonymity out of concern for Griner’s continued safety — stressed that Thursday’s proceedings were “not a hearing on the merits”She was convicted of a drug-related offense and is facing a maximum term of 10 years imprisonment.

“The investigation is still ongoing,”According to the source. “Once it has concluded, a trial date will be set. Until then, the court extends detention by periods of time.”

“If the investigation is not finished, the May hearing is to contemplate how much longer the court needs to extend,”They were also added.

Russian media outlet TASSGriner complained Thursday that her only grievance while in captivity is that the beds in her jail cell were too small for Griner, who stands 6’9″. Griner shares a cell in which she is confined with two other inmates who both speak English and have assisted her to navigate the situation.

Griner had been traveling to Russia in the days preceding her arrest to play for European powerhouse club UMMC Ekaterinburg. She’d done this every WNBA offseason since 2014.

Around half of WNBA athletes travel abroad in winter to play. Their relatively low salaries can be supplementedFrom the domestic league. Stars can earn significantly more abroad than they could in the States, and Griner is a prime example of this pay gap.

The seven-time WNBA All-Star is expected to bring home a trophy this year. League-maximum base salary of $227,900From the Phoenix Mercury. She’s eligible to earn more through bonuses and marketing opportunities if her stay in the US is for the winter. According to reports, she is paid $1 million per season by the UMMC Ekaterinburg. Jeff Metcalfe of the Arizona Republic.

This two-season-per year lifestyle is not ideal, even under normal circumstances. Griner, an athlete, often finds themselves with nagging injuries and rapid wear and tear that can hinder their professional careers.

But during moments of international crisis — like the early days of the pandemic or right now, as Russia wages war in Ukraine — WNBA players taking on second jobs overseas becomes all the more perilous. Griner could be a collateral victim of the fiery feud between the two superpowers due to the rapidly changing relationship between her country and her off-season home.

Antony Blinken Secretary of State said that the US is prepared to deal with any situation geopolitical. “provide every possible assistance”Griner and other detained citizens abroad per ESPN

“There’s only so much I can say given the privacy considerations at this point,”Griner was mentioned by Blinken. “Whenever an American is detained anywhere in the world, we of course stand ready to provide every possible assistance, and that includes in Russia.”

Griner received thousands of supportive letters from fans, helping her cope with detention.

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Content: Brittney Griner Asks Fans, Advocates to Write Letters to Paul Whelan: 'It's Our Turn to Support'

The WNBA star shared Whelan's mailing address and said, "I hope you'll join me in writing to Paul Whelan and continuing to advocate for other Americans to be rescued and returned to their families"

Brittney Griner has a request for her supporters this holiday season.

The WNBA star, who was released from Russian custody on Dec. 8, penned a handwritten letter to her Instagram followers on Wednesday morning, asking those who helped advocate for her safe return to do the same for Paul Whelan and other families of wrongfully detained loved ones.

"Thanks to the efforts of many, including you, I am home after nearly 10 months," Griner wrote. "You took time to show me you cared, and I want to personally take the time to write to you and say that your effort mattered."

Griner said the letters she received from fans and friends, through the #WeAreBG campaign, helped her "to not lose hope during a time" filled with "regret."

She described her feeling "vulnerable in ways I could have never imagined," in the letter.

The Phoenix Mercury center thanked those who wrote to her "from the bottom of my heart" and said that it was because of those communications of support that she "never lost hope" over the course of her detainment.

The letters were "bigger than uplifting" for the WNBA star, though. Griner explained that the thousands of messages she received showed her "the power of collective hands" and now, she hopes to help Whelan, the former U.S. marine who has been imprisoned in Russia for four years on espionage charges, and other detained Americans, come home.

"Together, we can do hard things," Griner wrote. "I'm living proof of that."

"My family is whole and now, thanks to you, we are fortunate to get to spend the holidays together," she wrote. "However, there remain too many families with loved ones wrongfully detained."

Griner explained, "Those families stood alongside you and all who supported the #WeAreBG campaign to bring me home, and it's our turn to support them. I hope you'll join me in writing to Paul Whelan and continuing to advocate for other Americans to be rescued and returned to their families."

Griner ended her letter by thanking fans once more, adding, "I hope your holiday season is full of joy and love."

She included Whelan's mailing address at the bottom of her note. He is currently receiving mail through the American Citizen Services Unit Consular, per the address.

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Griner's intention to help Whelan and other Americans was first confirmed by her agent, Lindsay Kagawa Colas, in an ESPN interview after her release. Colas said both Griner and her wife, Cherelle, plan to "raise attention" for other families with loved ones detained abroad.

When Cherelle spoke from the White House following the announcement of Brittney's return, she said, "Today my family is whole, but as you are all aware, there are so many families who are not whole."

She added that she will continue advocating for "getting every American home, including Paul, whose family is in our hearts today."

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Griner's detention has reportedly caused her unnecessary trauma and impacted her mental health.

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Content: Gina Greene released by Russia Biden thanks UAE for prisoner exchange
Central News Agency
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - After a prisoner exchange with Russia, U.S. President Joe Biden said today that the female basketball star Greiner has been released and thanked the United Arab Emirates for facilitating the prisoner exchange, but former U.S. Army soldier Whelan is not in the US-Russia prisoner exchange agreement.
This is an advertisement, please continue reading.
American basketball star Brittney Griner was on her way home today after being released from a Russian prison.
Moscow confirmed Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer who returned to the United States in exchange for a 25-year prison sentence.
Joe Biden said "she's safe and sound, she's on the plane, she's on her way home," adding that he had spoken to Greene and that she was "in a good mood" after the "horrific ordeal."
Another American detained in Russia, Paul Whelan, was not included in the deal, and Biden promised to keep trying to get him released. Whelan, a former U.S. Marine, was arrested in Russia in 2018 and charged with espionage.
The two-time Olympic gold medalist was arrested at Moscow airport on February 17 for carrying cannabis oil in her e-cigarette case. On August 4, she was sentenced to nine years in prison by a Russian court for drug possession and smuggling.
Biden said Greiner needed time to recover from "unnecessary trauma" after being "unjustly detained" and held in a Russian penal colony.
Biden's announcement at the White House was accompanied by Greiner's same-sex wife, Cherelle Griner, Vice President Kamala Harris, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Cheryl said she was emotional and described her wife's imprisonment as "one of the darkest moments of her life".
Biden also publicly thanked the United Arab Emirates for helping to "facilitate" Grenner's release, and the UAE and Saudi Arabia issued a joint statement saying it was the result of "efforts to mediate" between the two Arab leaders.
The statement said Greiner and Bout flew on a private jet to Abu Dhabi to exchange prisoners in the presence of UAE and Saudi personnel.
Biden said he expected Greiner to return to the United States within 24 hours.
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Griner is receiving medical treatment and plans to write a memoir about her experiences to process her ordeal and raise awareness for detained Americans.

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Content: Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
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Brittney Griner Is Ready to Tell Her ‘Unfathomable’ Story in New Memoir

The two-time Olympic gold medalist will finally tell the story of her Russian detainment.

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Ahead of her return to the WNBA, Phoenix Mercury center Brittney Griner has confirmed that she will tell the true story behind her wrongful detainment in Russia. According to The Associated Press, on Tuesday, the eight-time all-star announced that she is working on a memoir about her imprisonment. It is currently scheduled for release in spring 2024.

In February 2022, Griner was stopped in a Moscow airport when the police said they found vape cartridges containing cannabis oil in her luggage. The WNBA champion was charged with drug smuggling and possession. After a short trial, the basketball star was found guilty and sentenced to nine years in prison. Just as she was beginning her sentence in a labor camp, in December 2022 the U.S. and Russia conducted a prisoner exchange, with Griner coming home, while convicted arms dealer Viktor Bout was released into Russian custody.

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“That day (in February) was the beginning of an unfathomable period in my life which only now am I ready to share,” Griner said in a statement released by Alfred A. Knopf.

When she was arrested, Griner was headed back to Russia to join UMMC Ekaterinburg, the professional team she played for there. Most top WNBA stars play overseas the rest of the year, as they don’t earn much money competing in the United States.

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“The primary reason I traveled back to Russia for work that day was because I wanted to make my wife, family, and teammates proud,” she said. “After an incredibly challenging 10 months in detainment, I am grateful to have been rescued and to be home. Readers will hear my story and understand why I’m so thankful for the outpouring of support from people across the world.”

The two-time Olympic gold medalist went on to say that she hopes “her book would raise awareness of other Americans detained overseas.” In December 2022, the Baylor alum announced on Instagram that she planned to play during the upcoming season, writing, “I also want to make one thing very clear: I intend to play basketball for the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury this season, and in doing so, I look forward to being able to say ‘thank you’ to those of you who advocated, wrote, and posted for me in person soon.”

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In February, Griner re-signed with the Phoenix Mercury for a one-year deal. She will make her 2023 season debut on the road on Friday, May 19 against the Los Angeles Sparks.

Griner's case highlights the intersection of sports, gender issues, and politics.

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Content: Breaking News
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2023 GLAAD Media Award Nominations: See the Full List

2023 GLAAD Media Award Nominations: See the Full List

On Wednesday, the GLAAD Media Awards, which honors media for fair, accurate and inclusive representation of the LGBTQ community, revealed the nominees for its upcoming 34th annual celebration.

In total, there are 295 nominees across all 33 categories as the biggest and most visible LGBTQ awards show continues to expand its recognition. This year, GLAAD introduced two new categories – Outstanding Podcast and Outstanding Live TV Journalism - Segment or Special – while also splitting the Outstanding Reality Program category into competition and non-competition series and the Outstanding Kids & Family Programming category into animated and live-action shows.

Among the wide array of nominees are Abbott Elementary, romcoms Bros and Fire Island, Family Karma, HBO Max's reboot of Gossip Girl, RuPaul's Drag Race, Prime Video's adaptation of A League of Their Own, What We Do in the Shadows, The White Lotus and many more.

Additionally, The Los Angeles Blade and The Washington Blade will be presented with the Barbara Gittings Award for Excellence in LGBTQ Media while Alejandra Caraballo, Drag Story Hour, Jerrod Carmichael’s Rothaniel, The Lesbian Bar Project, and #Letters4TransKids are all being recognized with Special Recognition honors.

The 34th annual GLAAD Media Awards ceremonies will take place in Los Angeles on March 30 and in New York City on May 13.

See the full list of nominees below:

Outstanding Film - Wide Release

A Man Called Otto (Sony Pictures)
Bodies Bodies Bodies (A24)
Bros (Universal Pictures)
Everything Everywhere All at Once (A24)
Lightyear (Pixar)
Nope (Universal Pictures)
Scream (Paramount Pictures)
Spoiler Alert (Focus Features)
Strange World (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
Tár (Focus Features)

Outstanding Film - Streaming or TV

Anything's Possible (Prime Video)
B-Boy Blues (BET+)
A Christmas to Treasure (Lifetime)
Crush (Hulu)
Do Revenge (Netflix)
The Fallout (HBO Max)
Fire Island (Hulu)
The Holiday Sitter (Hallmark)
Three Months (Paramount+)
Wildhood (Hulu)

Outstanding Film - Limited Release

Anaïs in Love (Magnolia Pictures)
Benediction (Roadside Attractions)
Death and Bowling (Wolfe Releasing)
Firebird (Roadside Attractions)
Girl Picture (Strand Releasing)
The Inspection (A24)
My Policeman (Prime Video)
Neptune Frost (Kino Lorber)
The Swimmer (Strand Releasing)
Wendell & Wild (Netflix)

Outstanding Documentary

All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (HBO)
The Andy Warhol Diaries (Netflix)
The Book of Queer (Discovery+)
Framing Agnes (Kino Lorber)
Mama's Boy (HBO)
Maurice Hines: Bring Them Back (STARZ)
Mormon No More (Hulu)
Queer for Fear (Shudder)
Sirens (Oscilloscope)
Stay on Board: The Leo Baker Story (Netflix)

Outstanding Comedy Series

Abbott Elementary (ABC)
Derry Girls (Netflix)
Hacks (HBO Max)
Harley Quinn (HBO Max)
Love, Victor (Hulu)
Never Have I Ever (Netflix)
Only Murders in the Building (Hulu)
Sex Lives of College Girls (HBO Max)
Sort Of (HBO Max)
What We Do in the Shadows (FX)

Outstanding Drama Series

9-1-1: Lone Star (Fox)
Chucky (Syfy)
Good Trouble (Freeform)
Gossip Girl (HBO Max)
Grey’s Anatomy (ABC)
The L Word: Generation Q (Showtime)
P-Valley (STARZ)
September Mornings (Prime Video)
Star Trek: Discovery (Paramount Plus)
The Umbrella Academy (Netflix)

Outstanding New TV Series

A League of Their Own (Prime Video)
Heartbreak High (Netflix)
High School (Amazon Freevee)
Interview with the Vampire (AMC)
Our Flag Means Death (HBO Max)
Queer as Folk (Peacock)
The Rookie: Feds (ABC)
The Sandman (Netflix)
Somebody Somewhere (HBO)
Willow (Disney+)

Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series

American Horror Story: NYC (FX)
The Ignorant Angels (Hulu)
The Best Man: The Final Chapters (Peacock)
Welcome to Chippendales (Hulu)
The White Lotus (HBO)

Outstanding Reality Program

Bargain Block (HGTV)
The Come Up (Freeform)
Family Karma (Bravo)
Generation Drag (Discovery+)
Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness (Netflix)
Mathis Family Matters (E!)
The Real World Homecoming: New Orleans (Paramount+)
Southern Hospitality (Bravo)
Trixie Motel (Discovery+)
We’re Here (HBO)

Outstanding Reality Program - Competition

The Big Brunch (HBO Max)
Dancing with the Stars (ABC)
Legendary (HBO Max)
Lizzo’s Watch Out for the Big Grrrls (Prime Video)
RuPaul’s Drag Race (VH1)
So You Think You Can Dance (FOX)
Top Chef (Bravo)
Upcycle Nation (Fuse)
The Voice (NBC)
Worst Cooks in America (Food Network)

Outstanding Children’s Programming

“Adoptasaurus Rex," Dino Ranch (Disney Junior)
"Family Picnic," Sesame Street (HBO Max)
Firebuds (Disney Junior)
"The Mint Gala," Strawberry Shortcake: Berry in the Big City (Netflix)
Pinecone & Pony (Apple TV+)

Outstanding Kids & Family Programming - Animated

Amphibia (Disney Channel)
Battle Kitty (Netflix)
Big Nate (Nickelodeon)
Craig of the Creek (Cartoon Network)
Dead End: Paranormal Park (Netflix)
The Dragon Prince (Netflix)
Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous (Netflix)
The Owl House (Disney Channel)
The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder (Disney+)
Trick or Treat Scooby-Doo! (Cartoon Network)

Outstanding Kids & Family Programming - Live Action

Better Nate Than Ever (Disney+)
First Day (Hulu)
Heartstopper (Netflix)
High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (Disney+)
Monster High: The Movie (Nickelodeon, Paramount+)
Power Rangers: Dino Fury (Netflix)
Raven’s Home (Disney Channel)
Rebel Cheer Squad: A Get Even Series (Netflix)
Trevor: The Musical (Disney+)
Zombies 3 (Disney+)

Outstanding Music Artist

Anitta, Versions of Me (Warner Records)
Betty Who, BIG! (BMG)
Demi Lovato, HOLY FVCK (Island Records)
FLETCHER, Girl of My Dreams (Capitol Records)
Hayley Kiyoko, PANORAMA (Atlantic Records)
Honey Dijon, Black Girl Magic (Classic Music Company)
Kim Petras, Slut Pop (Republic Records)
MUNA, MUNA (Saddest Factory Records)
Orville Peck, Bronco (Columbia Records)
Rina Sawayama, Hold the Girl (Dirty Hit)

Outstanding Breakthrough Music Artist

Brooke Eden (BBR Music Group)
Doechii (Capitol Records)
Dove Cameron (Columbia Records)
Dreamer Isioma (AWAL Recordings)
Ethel Cain (Daughters of Cain Records)
Isaac Dunbar (RCA Records)
Jordy (300 Entertainment, Elektra Records)
Omar Apollo (Warner Records)
Renee Rapp (Interscope Records)
Steve Lacy (RCA Records)

Outstanding Broadway Production

& Juliet
Ain't No Mo
Kimberly Akimbo
A Strange Loop
Take Me Out

Outstanding Video Game

Apex Legends (Respawn Entertainment/Electronic Arts)
Desta: The Memories Between (ustwo games)
Haven (The Game Bakers)
I Was a Teenage Exocolonist (Northway Games/Finji)
Need for Speed: Unbound (Criterion Games/Electronic Arts)
SIGNALIS (rose-engine/Humble Games)
The Quarry (Supermassive Games/2K Games)
Tiny Tina's Wonderlands (Gearbox Software/2K Games)
World of Warcraft: Dragonflight (Blizzard Entertainment)
Wylde Flowers (Studio Drydock)

Outstanding Comic Book

I Hate This Place, by Kyle Starks, Artyom Topilin, Lee Loughridge, Pat Brosseau (Image Comics)
Immortal X-Men, by Kieron Gillen, Lucas Werneck, Michele Bandini, David Curiel, Dijjo Lima, Clayton Cowles (Marvel Comics)
New Mutants, by Vita Ayala, Danny Lore, Charlie Jane Anders, Danilo Beyruth, Rod Reis, Jan Duursema, Guillermo Sanna, Alex Lins, Alberto Alburquerque, Ro Stein, Ted Brandt, Dan Brown, Ruth Redmond, Carlos Lopez, Tamra Bonvillain, Travis Lanham (Marvel Comics)
The Nice House on the Lake, by James Tynion IV, Alvaro Martinez Bueno, Jordie Bellaire, Andworld Design (DC Comics)
Poison Ivy, by G. Willow Wilson, Marcio Takara, Atagun Ilhan, Brian Level, Stefano Gaudiano, Jay Leisten, Arif Prianto, Ivan Plascencia, Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou (DC Comics)
Sins of the Black Flamingo, by Andrew Wheeler, Travis Moore, Tamra Bonvillain, Aditya Bidikar (Image Comics)
Star Wars: Doctor Aphra, by Alyssa Wong, Minkyu Jung, Natacha Bustos, Rachelle Rosenberg, Joe Caramagna (Marvel Comics)
Superman: Son of Kal-El, by Tom Taylor, Nicole Maines, John Timms, Cian Tormey, Raul Fernandez, Bruno Redondo, Wade Von Grawbadger, Adriano Lucas, Clayton Henry, Ruairi Coleman, Scott Hanna, Hi-Fi Color, Federico Blee, Wes Abbott, Matt Herms, Marcelo Maiolo, Romulo Fajardo, Jr., Dave Sharpe, Bruno Redondo (DC Comics)
Tim Drake: Robin, by Meghan Fitzmartin, Riley Rossmo, Lee Loughridge, Tom Napolitano, Rob Leigh (DC Comics)
Wynd: The Throne in the Sky, by James Tynion IV, Michael Dialynas, Andworld Design (BOOM! Studios)

Outstanding Original Graphic Novel/Anthology

Chef's Kiss, by Jarrett Melendez, Danica Brine, Hank Jones, Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou (Oni Press)
Coven, by Jennifer Dugan, Kit Seaton (Putnam)
DC Pride 2022 (DC Comics) [anthology]
Doughnuts and Doom, by Balazs Lorinczi (Top Shelf Productions)
Fine: A Comic About Gender, by Rhea Ewing (W.W. Norton & Company)
Galaxy: The Prettiest Star, by Jadzia Axelrod, Jess Taylor (DC Comics)
Heartstopper Volume 4, by Alice Oseman (Graphix)
Magical Boy, by The Kao (Graphix)
Marvel's Voices: Pride #1 (Marvel Comics) [anthology]
Young Men in Love (A Wave Blue World) [anthology]

Outstanding Variety or Talk Show Episode

"David Archuleta," The Jennifer Hudson Show (syndicated)
"Don’t Say Gay," The Amber Ruffin Show (Peacock)
"Here I Am," Tamron Hall  (ABC)
"Jackie Goldschneider & Danny Pellegrino,” Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen (Bravo)
"JoJo Siwa Celebrates Her Golden Birthday," The View (ABC)
"LGBTQ Trailblazers," If We're Being Honest with Laverne Cox (E!)
"Spirit Day," The Kelly Clarkson Show (NBCUniversal Syndication Studios)
"Transgender Rights II," Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
"Virtel It Like It Is: Gay Velma Drives GOP Mad," Jimmy Kimmel Live! (ABC)
"The War Over Gender," The Problem with Jon Stewart (Apple TV+)

Outstanding TV Journalism Segment

"Critics Say New School Policies In Florida Ostracize LGBTQ Students," PBS Newshour (PBS)
"A History That Never Should Have Been: Julius' Bar," PIX11 Morning News  (WPIX-TV [New York])
"How Psychiatrist 'Dr. Anonymous' Impacted The Fight For Gay Rights," Sunday TODAY (NBC)
"HIV in the Deep South," In Real Life (Scripps News)
"Inside The Effort To Ban Conversion Therapy" (NBC News NOW)
“Introducing Nora J.S. Reichardt” (WOI/KCWI-TV [Des Moines])
"Life As A Trans Soldier," VICE News Tonight (VICE)
"Man Who Helped Stop The Club Q Shooter: 'I'm Just A Normal Guy,'" Anderson Cooper 360 (CNN)
"The Show Must Go On - Pride Events Targeted," Nightline (ABC)
"The Struggle Of Coming Out In A Religious Family," Good Morning America (ABC)

Outstanding TV Journalism – Long-Form

"Dear Noah: Pages from a Family Diary" (NBC News NOW)
"Families of Trans Kids Are Seeking Sanctuary," VICE News Tonight (VICE)
"NY1 Celebrates Pride: The New Generation" (Spectrum News NY1)
"Our America: Who I'm Meant To Be" (ABC Localish)
"PRIDE | To Be Seen," Soul of a Nation (ABC)
"Pride And Backlash" (NBC News NOW)
"Pride of Stage and Screen" (MSNBC)
"This Is Football," Beyond Limits (CBS)
"Unapologetic: A Conversation on Pride" (MSG Network)
"VIRAL: A World Without AIDS" (ABC News Live)

Outstanding Live TV Journalism - Segment or Special

"25 News: Celebrating Our Pride" (KXXV-TV [Waco])
"Chris Hayes on the Right-Wing War on LGBTQ Existence," All In with Chris Hayes (MSNBC)
"Don Lemon on the Anti-LGBTQ Congressman Who Attended His Gay Son's Wedding," CNN Tonight with Don Lemon (CNN)
"GMA Out Loud: A Live Proposal in Times Square," Good Morning America (ABC)
"Joy-Ann Reid Interviews Will Larkins On Florida's 'Don't Say Gay' Bill," The Reid Out (MSNBC)
"The Last Thing Before We Go: Stephanie Ruhle Talks Spirit Day," The 11th Hour (MSNBC)
"Out Loud: ABC News Celebrates Pride" (ABC News Live)
"Reggie Aqui Interviews Doctor and Mpox Patient on His Experience" (KGO-TV [San Francisco])
"Robin Roberts Interviews Zander Moricz on His Censored Graduation Speech," Good Morning America (ABC)
"Symone Sanders-Townsend Interviews Colorado Springs Shooting Survivor Michael Anderson," SYMONE (MSNBC)

Outstanding Print Article

"Activists Face An Avalanche Of Anti-Transgender Bills" by Casey Parks (The Washington Post)
"After Threats From Extremist Groups, LGBTQ Activists Rally In Support Of The Center" by Desiree Stennet (Orlando Sentinel)
"A Country Music Comeback: Ty Herndon Knows He Should be Dead" by Jason Sheeler (People)
"EXPLAINER: Pronouns, Nonbinary People and the Club Q Attack" by Jeff McMillan with Jesse Bedayn, Jim Mustian, Colleen Slevin, Jake Bleiberg, Lindsey Tanner (Associated Press)
"'King Richard' Star Aunjanue Ellis Speaks Her Truth About Being Bisexual: 'I Am Queer - This Is Who I Am'" by Angelique Jackson (Variety)
"Niecy Nash And Wife Jessica Are Sure Betts" by Demetria L. Lucas (Essence)
“Pediatricians Who Serve Trans Youth Face Increasing Harassment. Lifesaving Care Could Be on the Line” by Madeleine Carlisle (TIME)
"Pride And Prejudice And Fire Island" by E. Alex Jung (New York Magazine)
"Take My Wheelchair,' Club Q Victim Tells Nurse Upon Leaving 22-Day Hospital Stay" by Carol McKinley and Tina Siegfried (The Gazette [Colorado Springs])
"Will Russia Bring Its War On LGBTQ People To Ukraine?" by Kate Linthicum (Los Angeles Times)

Outstanding Magazine Overall Coverage

The Advocate
Metro Weekly
OUT
People
Variety

Outstanding Online Journalism Article

"A 25-Year-Old Got In A Taxi Outside An N.Y.C. Gay Bar. He Was Dead An Hour Later" by Jay Valle (NBCNews.com)
"Alabama Is Trying to Raise the Legal Driving Age for Trans People to 19" by Nico Lang (TheDailyBeast.com)
"Does Providing Prep, A Drug That Prevents H.I.V., Clash With Christian Beliefs? An Overview Of Church Teaching" by Michael J. O’Loughlin (AmericaMagazine.org)
“The Fear And Loathing Some People Show Sports Pride Events Brings Fear And Pain To This Fan” by Karleigh Webb (Outsports.com)
“‘I See Myself In Her’: Brittney Griner’s Russia Trial Resonates With Queer Black Women And Nonbinary People” by Orion Rummler (the19th.org)
“My Experience As A Target Of Kiwi Farms Speaks To A Scary Truth About Internet Culture” by Katelyn Burns (MSNBC.com)
"The New York Times, The Atlantic, More Keep Publishing Transphobia. Why?" by Lexi McMenamin (TeenVogue.com)
"School Board Meetings Are the New Frontline for LGBTQ+ Rights" by Colleen Hamilton (them.us)
"There Is No Legitimate 'Debate' Over Gender-Affirming Healthcare" by Kit O’Connell (TexasObserver.org)
“What’s So Scary About A Transgender Child?” by Emily St. James (Vox.com)

Outstanding Online Journalism – Video or Multimedia

"+TALK: Sex, Dating & Disclosure" by Karl Schmid (PlusLifeMedia.com)
"Deaths In The Family" (Insider.com)
"Florida’s So-Called 'Don’t Say Gay' Bill Explained" (TampaBay.com)
"How Is the Gay Rodeo Different?" by Jordon Jones (PBS.org)
“How Medicine's Fixation on the Sex Binary Harms Intersex People" (ScientificAmerican.com)
"How New Anti-LGBTQ Laws Echo An Infamous Conservative Activist's Campaign From 1977" by John Avlon (CNN.com)
“Lawmakers Say Trans Athlete Bans Are About Protecting Women’s Sports …” by Julie Kleigman (SI.com)
"Logo's Trans Youth Town Hall" by Raquel Willis (LogoTV.com)
"The Stonewall Generation Has Found Their Voice with Leslie Jordan & Donald M. Bell" (LGBTQNation.com)
“White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre Opens Up About Brittney Griner's Release” by Tracy E. Gilchrist (AdvocateChannel.com)

Outstanding Blog

Charlotte's Web Thoughts
Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters
Mombian
My Fabulous Disease
The Reckoning

Outstanding Podcast

The Bald and the Beautiful with Trixie Mattel and Katya Zamo (Studio71)
In The Deep: Stories that Shape Us (iHeartMedia)
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang (iHeartMedia/Big Money Players)
Life Out Loud with LZ Granderson (ABC News)
LGBTQ&A (Jeffrey Masters, The Advocate)
PRIDECAST (iHeartMedia)
Sibling Rivalry (Studio71)
TransLash Podcast with Imara Jones (TransLash Media)
V Interesting (Lemonada Media)
Yass Jesus! (Daniel Franzese Entertainment)

Special Recognition

Alejandra Caraballo
Drag Story Hour
Rothaniel (HBO)
The Lesbian Bar Project
#Letters4TransKids

Outstanding Spanish-Language Scripted Television Series

Los Espookys (HBO)
La flor más bella (Netflix)
Ser o no ser (RTVE)
Smiley (Netflix)
Las de la última fila (Netflix)

Outstanding Spanish-Language TV Journalism

"Azafata le pide matrimonio a su novia piloto," Edición Digital (TelevisaUnivision)
"La Familia de la Sigla XX1," Primer Impacto (TelevisaUnivision)
"La Magia de PFLAG," Despierta América (TelevisaUnivision)
"Mariachi Arcoíris: el grupo musical 'queer' que revoluciona el género," Primer Impacto (TelevisaUnivision)
"Protestan en 95 secundarias de Virginia por iniciativas del estado contra estudiantes transgénero," Noticias Univision Washington D.C. (TelevisaUnivision)
"Vico Ortiz," Primer Impacto (TelevisaUnivision)

Outstanding Spanish-Language Online Journalism Article

"Amelio Robles fue el primer hombre trans mexicano y revolucionario" por Luis Garcia (Homosensual.com)
"'Esta es mi vida intersexual': así fue cómo una boricua se convirtió en una heroína" por Marcos Billy Guzmán (ElNuevoDía.com)
"Con miedo, pero peleando sus derechos: así viven las familias con niños LGBTQ en estados que quieren criminalizarlos" por Patricia Clarembeaux (Univision.com)
"Hay que votar por nuestras vidas: la comunidad hispana LGBTQ explica qué le motiva a participar en esta elección" por Albinson Linares (Telemundo.com)
"Madres con hijos de la comunidad LGBTQ unen fuerzas en América Latina para luchar por sus derechos" por Rodrigo Serrano (ElVocer.com)
"Mucho más que hablar con 'e', qué es ser no binarie" por Marina Prats (HuffingtonPost.Es)
"No nos quitarán la risa" por Lucas Garófalo (Vice.com)
"El Primer Comedor Comunitario LGBTQ de la Ciudad de México" por Delilah Friedler, fotos de Luis Pimental (Vice.com)
"Proyectos de ley anti LGBTQ+ en Florida son una 'licencia para discriminar' y reviven el dolor de Pulse, dicen grupos locales" por Jennifer A. Marcial Ocasio (OrlandoSentinel.com)
"Por qué los bisexuales, el colectivo no heterosexual más numeroso de España, siguen siendo invisibles en televisión" por Héctor Llanos Martínez (ElPaís.com)

Outstanding Spanish-Language Online Journalism - Video or Multimedia

"Las abuelas trans buscan dignificar su vejez" por Liliana Rosas y Silvana Flores (ReporteIndigo.com)
"Un hogar para las mujeres trans en México" por Gladys Serrano (ElPaís.com)
"¿Al clóset? ni pa' coger impulso: Carolina Giraldo, congresista bisexual" por Mariana Escobar Bernoske (ElEspectador.com)
"La comunidad trans recibe atención médica de calidad y con calidez, en la USIPT" por Jorge Ángel Pablo Garcia y Tania Molina Ramírez (Jornada.com.mx)
"Migrantes Trans buscan una nueva vida en Estados Unidos" por Alma Paola Wong (Milenio.com)

Special Recognition (Spanish-Language)

"En Sus Palabras" [serie] (TelevisaUnivision)

RELATED CONTENT:

2022 GLAAD Media Awards: The Complete Winners List

2021 GLAAD Media Awards: The Complete Winners List

The Cast of 'Glee' Reunites to Honor Naya Rivera at GLAAD Media Awards

Niecy Nash on Hosting GLAAD Media Awards After Joining LGBTQ Community

Before You Leave, Check This Out

The US government classified Griner as wrongfully detained, sparking public outcry and petitions, including a plea from over 1,200 Black women leaders to Biden.

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Content: Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

National News

VSU Coach Among Black Women Showing Support For Griner

By Leonard E. Colvin
Chief Reporter
New Journal and Guide

A group of over 1,200-plus Black women leaders of various religious, political, and social backgrounds, are calling on President Joseph R. Biden’s to ramp up efforts to free WNBA star Brittney Griner from detainment in Russia.

In a letter to Biden and Vice President Harris, the #WinWithBlackWomen collective urged the administration to “make a deal to get Brittney back home swiftly and safely and to meet with Brittney’s wife Cherelle immediately.”

The signatories include multiple WNBA players, WNBA Players Association Executive Director Terri Jackson, and several university coaches, including Nadine Domond, head coach for women’s basketball at Virginia State University, who also signed the letter.

Domond was recently interviewed on National Public Radio’s (NPR) “All Things Considered” by host Juana Summers.

Summers asked Domond, who is a friend of Griner, about her reaction to what was happening during her trial and imprisonment in Russia.

“Heartbroken. She could be sentenced to up 10 years in a Russian prison,” Domond said. “That’s tough. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone. So, I’m just keeping her in my prayers, to give her the strength and the courage and the wisdom as she walks through this – you know, this valley. So many other supporters are just with her in spirit, trying to make sure she’s OK.”

Summer asked, “Why do you think it has not gotten enough attention?”

“Because I think for many people, it’s like, what do you mean? She’s overseas” Domond said.

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.

“What is she doing overseas? Why is she going overseas? So, there are so many unanswered questions that many average Americans want to know.”

Two weeks ago, Griner, during the second phase of her trial admitted guilt to the charges. She said she was packing, hurriedly and did not intend to include the Hashish Smokeless cartridges in her baggage or break Russians laws.

On July 15 Griner presented a doctor’s letter recommending medical cannabis treatment to a Russian court.

Griner, the Gay, superstar female star of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), has been in a Russian jail for over four months.

The six-foot-nine center for the Phoenix Mercury helped the team earn a championship in 2014. She has two gold Olympic medals to her name. Griner was jailed for carrying used Hashish oil cartridges in one of her bags as she was attempted to leave Russia back in February.

“People don’t know that many former WNBA players or WNBA players work year-round,” Domond continued. “She is going to Russia to make another living, to continue her living. And to be detained on something that – to me, I don’t know their rules, but I know Brittney wouldn’t do anything to break the law on purpose. I know Brittney wouldn’t do anything to step outside the boundaries of what is expected of her.”

Read the entire story in New Journal and Guide.

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Griner's detention in Russia is seen as politically motivated, potentially compounded by her LGBTQ status.

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Opinions

Where does wrongful detention of Brittney Griner go from here?

She will inevitably be labeled a hostage

Published

on

Brittney Griner

It seems like years rather than weeks ago that American political prisoner, Trevor Reed, was released from Russia in a prisoner swap. It also seems like years since an American citizen, basketball superstar Brittney Griner, was taken into custody in Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport for allegedly having hashish oil in her possession.

We now know what many of us believed all along – that Brittney Griner was, in the far too late proclamation by the U.S. government, “wrongfully detained.” In diplomacy-speak, wrongfully detained is synonymous with politically detained, which is super close to what will soon enough inevitably happen – calling Brittney Griner a hostage.

Since the beginning of Griner’s detention, I have done dozens of print, radio, TV, and related interviews, and I have a pretty clear view of how and why we got here.

As I wrote around six weeks ago, if we read between the lines of what’s being said in traditional and social media, we can extract three key reasons why the Griner situation isn’t getting the attention that it should be and would be if it was a different athlete.

The first reason is that Brittney Griner is not a terribly high-profile athlete.

This is patently untrue. As I have been commenting from the minute we learned that she was taken into custody by the Russians, Griner was absolutely the highest-profile American athlete that Russia could have taken into custody as they were preparing for their brutal invasion of Ukraine.

The only other high-profile athletes playing in Russia or transiting through at that time were the very few American players in Russia’s top hockey league, the KHL. None are superstars in their sport, as Griner is.

The second argument for why Griner isn’t getting the attention she should be is that she is LGBTQ.

I have argued that this is a reasonably good hypothesis. It just seems that a straight athlete would be getting a lot more attention and public sympathy than Griner has, in part, yet not in full, because of her sexual orientation. That’s a remarkably harsh position to have to take in 2022, yet it’s clear that Griner doesn’t fit the mold of what many Americans see as that all-American athlete. That one’s sexual or gender orientation should drive the American public’s level of sympathy for one of their own top athletes is a shame, but here we are.

The third and most commonly cited reason for Brittany Griner getting less attention than another athlete in a similar situation is that she’s Black.

This argument holds little weight with me. Yes, it makes sense that in comparison to a high-profile white athlete, some people are simply going to care less about a Black athlete. Again, that’s a harsh analysis, yet not unaligned with many things going on in the nation today.

But I think this is a reductive argument that crumbles under the weight of the analogy that I usually use during TV and radio broadcasts about the Griner case – and that is, what if this was Kyrie Irving?

I like to use Kyrie Irving as an analogy because he is a highly controversial Black athlete. Obviously, NBA players don’t have to have second jobs in places like Russia, Turkey, and China, to make ends meet, as the WNBA women do. But just imagine that Kyrie Irving was traveling alone through Moscow airport. If Irving had been taken into custody by the Russians, I can guarantee that this would be front-page news not just in the sports section but on the front page of all significant papers practically every day. That simply hasn’t been the case with Brittney Griner.

Every day, I am asked where this goes from here. With Griner’s May 19 hearing delayed “one month” (though at the time of writing, no date has been set), I remained convinced of two things: that this goes to a worse place than we are now and that it progresses painfully slowly.

As to the first point, to maximize leverage over the United States, it’s likely that Griner will end up somewhere like a Russian labor camp before she ever steps back into the United States. While Russia does not follow the Rule of Law, it would be neither legally nor politically expedient to just hold Griner in a Moscow jail or prison indefinitely. They need to make her situation worse to turn up the urgency of the case for the American government.

But this indeed won’t happen overnight. As I’ve also been saying all along, the next hearing date will also be delayed, OR we will learn through a TASS Russian media release that Griner was tried, found guilty of all charges, and sentenced (see labor camp, above).

As to what each of us can do, my advice remains the same: Keep talking about it. Make this Brittney as viral as Britney Spears was a year ago. Just as Britney Spears’ freedom from her conservatorship was turbo-charged by the #FreeBritney hashtag, let’s #FreeBrittney now.

This is significantly less trite than it sounds. There is no indication that the American government doesn’t want you to forget about Brittney Griner. As former hostage Jason Rezaian discussed on an excellent recent Washington Post podcast, he always “calls BS” on those parties, saying we should keep detentions such as Griner’s out of the public spotlight. He advocates being as loud as we can be on this, which is why I keep doing interviews on this issue as much as possible.

Ultimately, Brittney Griner will be a political prisoner until the United States and Russia can decide, in crass basketball terms, on a fair player trade. On Friday, we learned that the two sides might actually be in discussions now for a trade involving Griner for notorious convicted arms trafficker Viktor Bout, aka the “Merchant of Death.”

Unless this can re-enter and remain in the public spotlight, along with any pressure on the government, Britney Griner will not get the treatment she deserves as one of the greatest basketball players of her generation. That the massive disparity between how NBA and WNBA players are compensated laid the foundation for her to be in this position is the harsh reality these leagues face today. Yet it pales compared to the uncertain reality Griner faces today in a Moscow jail.

A Pulitzer Prize-nominated writer, Aron Solomon, JD, is the chief legal analyst for Today’s Esquire. He has taught entrepreneurship at McGill University and the University of Pennsylvania, and was elected to Fastcase 50, recognizing the top 50 legal innovators in the world.

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Leave no one behind: Building an LGBTQ+ movement for all

A just society is only achievable by investing in dignity of the marginalized

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Despite the expansion of LGBTQ+ civil rights and liberties in D.C., some of which we proudly attribute to GLAA’s stalwart activism for the past 51 years, the most vulnerable members of our community continue to suffer from poverty, homelessness, criminalization, discrimination, social isolation, and preventable death. A jaw-dropping 40% of homeless youth in the U.S. identify as LGBTQ+, LGBTQ+ people experience hunger at twice the rate of straight people, and right here in D.C., the Office of Human Rights reports that employers are more likely to interview a less-qualified cisgender job applicant than a more-qualified transgender applicant.

So for our 2022 candidate ratings, GLAA decided to emphasize that racial and economic justice are LGBTQ+ justice issues. While we recognize the importance of openly LGBTQ+ candidates, we know one’s identity does not indicate where they stand on critical issues. Something many of us have learned the hard way, and something GLAA leadership recognizes not championing sooner as a mistake. What matters most is a candidate’s demonstrated record and vision to support the LGBTQ+ community in its entirety.

It is not enough for candidates to respond only to the needs of those who historically have held the most power in the LGBTQ+ community, particularly white cisgender gay men, in order to tout support of the entire community. The LGBTQ+ community is so many different people, and it is time we push candidates to consider and address us in our entirety. For too long, many LGBTQ+ people have felt rejected and betrayed by our community’s movement priorities, narratives about what our community stands for, and decisions on who is valued and who is selected to represent or lead us. And, while GLAA understands no one politician or organization can erase these community divides, we aim to be intentional in our approach to dismantle that which stands in our entire community’s way toward liberation. That is why, in 2022 we decided to rate candidates on their responses and records of support on issues that impact the most marginalized members of the LGBTQ+ community. None of us is free until all of us are free.

Throughout GLAA’s history we have focused on securing LGBTQ+ rights, which have mostly strengthened the legal protections of people privileged enough to take advantage of them. GLAA decided to focus the Leave No One Behind: 2022 Election Guide and questionnaire on racial and economic justice with an LGBTQ+ lens. We did this to build on our victories, such as successfully advocating for the defunding of the Metropolitan Police Department’s vice squad in the 1970s, and to learn from our mistakes.

It is our belief that a just, peaceful, and vibrant society is only achievable by actively investing in the security and dignity of the poor and marginalized members of all our communities. Our questionnaire intentionally acts in solidarity with D.C. anti-poverty, anti-stigma, and anti-overdose campaigns, which are largely led by trans and queer people of color.

Ratings are on a scale of +/-10 points: yes/no responses on questionnaire (+/-2); substance of response (+/-4); and candidate’s public record (+/-4). Candidates earned partial credit for the yes/no category if they partially agreed with the question. Four issues received more than 91% agreement: increasing the affordable housing stock for the poorest residents, housing people using government funded vouchers, fully funding the Office of Human Rights, and better oversight to improve conditions in the DC Jail.

Three issues received 70-79% candidates’ support, and over 90% when including candidates who issued partial support: Repealing the sub-minimum wage, decriminalization of drug use, and reducing the population of D.C. jail by 30%.

Finally, the least supported policies were decriminalization of consensual sex work and divesting from the Metropolitan Police Department and investing in violence prevention and recidivism prevention programs. Even still, there was remarkable consensus: over 2/3 or 66% of candidates who issued total or partial support.

We are encouraged by the remarkable level of consensus on all of our issues, signaling that D.C. is ready for transformative change that at its core addresses the District’s current poverty, unaffordable housing, community and police-based violence, and overdose crises.

GLAA is excited to see more LGBTQ+ people on ballots. More exciting, however, is the number of politicians with fully realized and integrated LGBTQ+ policies in their platforms. Policies that extend across race and class lines. GLAA firmly believes all people, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, can be stewards of LGBTQ+ liberation. It is our hope that readers find these ratings not as endorsements, but as a starting point to imagine what is possible if local officials are guided by D.C. residents to use their elected power to create new possibilities that leave no one behind.

This opinion piece was signed by the 2022 Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance board of directors.

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GLAA has lost its way and should close

Their ratings no longer make an iota of difference in an election

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(Blade file photo by Pete Exis)

The Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance (GLAA), once a respected organization, has now lost its way. It once represented all the members of the LGBTQ+ community, clearly no longer the case, as one can tell based on their questionnaire and ratings. They now represent only the far left in the community and are seeking to represent more than LGBTQ+ people as the statement from their current president suggests. That is not the role of GLAA.

One of the questions in this year’s questionnaire that candidates were asked to respond to is: “Do you support divesting from the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) to further invest in vital programs, including anti-poverty, violence prevention, crisis intervention, and reentry?” If you didn’t say yes, you lost points. This shows how out of touch they are as the DC Council just voted unanimously, on a first vote, to raise the budget of the MPD. The approved budget also includes increased funding for other vital programs. There’s no indication GLAA ever spoke to Council members on this issue.

Its website lists five officers, all men, with a blurb on each. The one for the president, in addition to listing past and current employment, says, “When he is not organizing, he loves asking people about their Myers Briggs Type (he is ENFP, for the record), doing gay crimes (the basics like drugs and public sex), having Spicy Vanilla sex, dancing to hot beats on the dance floor, practicing vulnerability, plotting revolution against capitalism and other forms of oppression.” He is entitled to his views. But I question how his leading the GLAA represents the broader LGBTQ+ community.

Over the years I’ve had issues with some of what GLAA has done and some of the issues they focused on. But the organization always represented the entire spectrum of the LGBTQ+ community in their questionnaire. Candidates getting a rating from the organization could feel it represented a wide range of opinion in the community. I would hope no candidate tries to pawn the current ratings off as any kind of support from the broader LGBTQ + community.

In the past you always knew their officers, including Rick Rosendall, Bob Summersgill and Jeff Coudriet among others, were involved with D.C. government and knew the issues in-depth. They knew the candidates. Responding to their questionnaire over the years was always interesting. Rick often was the one who spent hours drafting the questions. I always wondered why it was never enough to say yes you agree with their premise. Instead, you had to say it in hundreds, even thousands, of words to earn points. I know as I have filled out questionnaires for many candidates.

Today their website lists nine project areas, none with anything accomplished since 2016. The blog has nothing on any recent budget issues or legislation pertaining to the LGBTQ+ community, only information about the questionnaire. They claim to lobby the Council and monitor government agencies, but there is no indication of any meetings or testimony since 2017.

We can thank GLAA for the fact that today no politician can win office in D.C. without being supportive of the LGBTQ community. However, today their ratings no longer make an iota of difference in an election. Since this is now the only thing they do it’s time to close up shop. We have moved past the time in D.C. when a small number of people can sit in a room rating candidates they don’t know, on issues that don’t represent the community they are supposed to be representing.

So personally, I say thank you to all the people who worked hard over many years for GLAA to help move the LGBTQ community forward. I recognize there is much work still to be done but GLAA is not the organization to do it. We must work to ensure economic and civil justice for all members of our community; health equity for transgender persons; senior housing for our community; and employment opportunities for all, among other issues. But there are other LGBTQ organizations, and community organizations, doing these things better and the few members GLAA might still have should be directed to those other organizations.

If as their website claims they are planning an anniversary celebration, it should be one to honor all the people who in the past 50 years of the organization, worked hard and were successful in making my life and the lives of so many LGBTQ people in the District of Columbia and around the nation better. That would be an exciting way to say goodbye and celebrate the organization whose time it is to close.

Peter Rosenstein is a longtime LGBTQ rights and Democratic Party activist. He writes regularly for the Blade.

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An unlikely revolution is happening at Christian universities

More than half have enacted LGBTQ non-discrimination policies

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Recent headlines have been filled with messages of doom and gloom for LGBTQ people. From bans on transgender women competing in sports to “don’t say gay” laws, it seems evident that conservative Republicans are freshly committed to rolling back the rights of LGBTQ people across the United States.

Yet, despite such recent setbacks, a student-led movement for LGBTQ inclusion is gaining ground in what would seem to be one of the unlikeliest settings — Christian colleges and universities.

Over the past few years, I’ve collected extensive data on U.S. Christian colleges and universities’ policies toward LGBTQ students. In one study, I found that 55% of all Christian colleges and universities in the United States have nondiscrimination policies inclusive of sexual orientation. In another recent study, I found that nearly half of all Christian colleges and universities are home to officially recognized LGBTQ student groups.

Even some of the most conservative Christian colleges and universities have changed their approach to LGBTQ students. When analyzing data collected in 2013, I found that nearly one-third of all Christian colleges and universities had adopted bans on so-called “homosexual acts” or “homosexual behavior” in their student handbooks. Yet, when reviewing Christian colleges and universities’ handbooks again over the past year, I found that under one-fourth of Christian colleges and universities had such discriminatory bans.

Why are some Christian colleges and universities becoming more accommodating—and even welcoming—to LGBTQ students?

There are several major reasons, but one of the most important is that several Christian denominations already embrace their LGBTQ members. Denominations such as the Episcopal Church, United Church of Christ, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Disciples of Christ, and Presbyterian Church USA, for example, allow ministers to officiate same-sex weddings. An increasing number of nondenominational churches also affirm LGBTQ people. Those Christian colleges and universities that are already associated with affirming denominations are certainly among the most likely to affirm their LGBTQ students.

Another reason that many Christian colleges and universities are becoming welcoming toward LGBTQ students is that they do not necessarily believe their primary mission is to hold all students to the specific religious tenets of their associated denomination. Rather, they see their primary mission as providing an important service (education) to the broader society. Just as Christian hospitals do not refuse to provide medical treatment to people who are not members of their associated denominations, many Christian colleges and universities have chosen not to deny people an education simply because certain people are not members of their associated denominations.

A rising number of Christian colleges and universities also recognize the harms that occur when people are discriminated against on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. A recent survey by Religious Exemption Accountability Project shows that 12% of all Christian college and university students self-identify as LGBTQ. Because studies show that LGBTQ people in non-affirming Christian colleges and universities report greater rates of depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation, many Christian schools understand they would be harming a significant number of their students if they continued to discriminate against LGBTQ people.

And still other schools are simply concerned with their bottom lines. The United States is projected to go over a “demographic cliff” in 2025, at which time the number of 18-year-olds nationwide will drop dramatically. Some reports say that one-third of all private colleges and universities nationwide will face major financial crises over the next decade, causing them to close or pursue mergers. Many Christian colleges and universities recognize that adopting discriminatory policies toward LGBTQ students would alienate significant portions of their potential student body.

Certainly, despite these encouraging trends, those who are committed to LGBTQ rights should not be complacent. Many schools have still been slow to extend nondiscrimination protections and housing accommodations to trans students. And the Religious Exemption Accountability Project estimates that as many as 100,000 LGBTQ students are currently enrolled at Christian colleges and universities that still refuse to affirm the dignity and rights of LGBTQ people. That organization recently filed a class-action lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Education, challenging the federal government’s policy of providing loans even to Christian colleges and universities that otherwise violate Title IX protections for LGBTQ students.

It is likely the case that some Christian colleges and universities will not change their policies toward LGBTQ rights unless they are legally required to do so. Still, at Christian colleges and universities across the United States, LGBTQ students are not waiting around. LGBTQ students are actively mobilizing to bring about inclusive policies at their schools, and at a surprising number of schools, they are succeeding.

Jonathan S. Coley is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Oklahoma State University and a Public Fellow at the Public Religion Research Institute.

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Griner's case highlights the dangers of Russia's justice system for LGBTQ+ individuals.

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Content: games

Why Isn’t Brittney Griner the Biggest Sports Story in the Country?

Photo: Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

The second-best player in every sport is a superstar at a level that 99.999 percent of professional athletes — who are already the elite of the elite of the elite — will never come close to achieving. Joel Embiid finished second in NBA MVP voting last year; in baseball (a sport once actively played in this country), it was Vladimir Guerrero Jr.; and in football, it was Tom Brady.

In the WNBA, the Phoenix Mercury’s Brittney Griner earned this distinction last year. She was second in scoring, sixth in rebounds, first in blocks (she’s on track to become the WNBA’s all-time leader in that category), and, according to most advanced metrics, the best offensive player in the league. Her résumé is glittering: She won an NCAA national championship for Baylor in 2012, the same year she captured college basketball’s Player of the Year Award. She then won a WNBA championship in 2014 and was selected as one of the best 25 players in league history in 2021. She has two Olympic gold medals to her name. In the gold-medal game against Japan in Tokyo last summer, she dominated, scoring 30 points to clinch an easy victory. She is the apex of her sport. She is the best of the best. She is a legend.

And for more than a month now, she has been in the custody of the Russian government. Yet until Russian officials released a statement over the weekend saying they had detained Griner after finding hashish oil in her airport bag, it seemed that nobody had noticed. And the reaction since the arrest has been stunningly quiet. One of the greatest athletes in American sports — a gold-medal winner, a superstar, a champion — was arrested in a dangerous and volatile country that has suddenly become a pariah on the world stage. Making equivalences between sports only takes you so far here, but seriously: Imagine if Tom Brady were being held by Russian officials right now.

It is unclear how directly Griner’s plight connects to the catastrophic Russian invasion of Ukraine, and her detention has been overshadowed by the death and destruction wrought by Putin. And part of the muted response is likely due to sensitivity of the negotiations between Russian and American officials. Griner’s wife asked for privacy on Instagram, and it’s clear the precariousness of the situation has led to a certain institutional resistance to even mentioning it: That WNBA.com doesn’t include a single story about one of the organization’s best players being detained speaks to this dynamic. It is also worth remembering, as ESPN’s T.J. Quinn did on Monday, that Griner, whatever the specifics, is likely in some danger; Quinn noted that “as a 6-9 Black gay American woman, she’s a powerful cultural symbol,” and “even in the best case, she’s in for a long legal slog in the Russian criminal justice system. And there’s little the US govt can do about it.”

Another motive the WNBA may have for staying quiet is its own culpability in the situation. The reason Griner was in Russia in the first place — to play off-season basketball, as she has done there for years — is that the league does not pay its superstars the way other sports leagues do. As Tom Ley from Defector pointed out:

The league’s low salaries and minimal efforts towards player support have for years forced even its biggest stars to treat their time in the WNBA as a part-time job. The maximum WNBA salary in 2022 was just over $228,000, and players can make far more than that playing in leagues overseas. In 2015, Diana Taurasi was paid $1.5 million to skip the WNBA season entirely and play for UMMC Ekaterinburg, and Liz Cambage recently revealed that she has made “five to eight times” as much money playing overseas than she has in the WNBA.

Before you say, “Well, the WNBA isn’t as popular in the NBA; of course Griner wouldn’t make as much as LeBron,” remember this: The WNBA has a salary cap, and one that’s particularly suppressive of superstar wages. Griner only made $221,450 for the 2021–2022 season, which is less than a third of the minimum salary in the NHL, but nevertheless classifies her as the fourth-highest-paid player in the WNBA. A new CBA signed two years ago was supposed to address these issues, yet there was Griner, making a mint playing for UMMC Ekaterinburg in Russia. The WNBA’s MVP last year, Connecticut Sun forward Jonquel Jones, plays for the same Russian team. She got out of the country just after the invasion of Ukraine began.

Liz Cambage, a star for the Los Angeles Sparks, has noted that players can make “five to eight times more money” for Russian teams than they do in the WNBA, despite the league being by far the most high-profile women’s basketball league in the world. And restricted cash flow isn’t the only problem for players: Just last week, the league fined the New York Liberty $500,000 for chartering flights to games, claiming this gave the Liberty a “competitive advantage.” (For perspective, almost every team in the collegiate NCAA tournament next week will arrive at their destinations via chartered flight.) Griner didn’t choose to go play in Russia. The league left her no choice.

The precarity of Griner’s position in Russia may give the WNBA a good reason to stay quiet about her case. But perhaps the league would also prefer not to dwell on how she ended up in this situation in the first place.

In any case, it’s not just the WNBA downplaying this story. There was also no mention of Griner on the front pages of ESPN.com, CBS Sports, and SI.com just 48 hours after news of her arrest landed.

This strange reaction comes at a time when the WNBA has surged in popularity. Last year’s finals, featuring Griner’s Mercury, put up the highest ratings ever, a full 49 percent jump from 2020. This is partly because of the league’s activism, which has increased its visibility in a dramatic way. And Griner has been right in the middle of it all, wearing Breonna Taylor’s name on her jersey and speaking out in favor of LGBTQ+ issues since before she even entered the NBA. She was also the first openly gay athlete ever signed to an endorsement deal with Nike. Her teammate Diana Taurasi, perhaps the best player in WNBA history, called Griner “a pioneer.”

And still, relative silence.

As Griner sits in detention in Russia, as a result of a system that is set up to devalue her and other stars at every corner, it would be nice if her plight received attention commensurate with its seriousness.

Why Isn’t Brittney Griner the Biggest Sports Story?

Griner's experience highlights the importance of supporting women's sports and investing in women's athletics, and can advocate for policy changes like equal pay and protection for women in sports.

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Content: News
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How brand ‘Serena’ changed the game for female athlete sponsorships

Women athletes have been far behind their male counterparts when it comes to advertising deals. But the story is changing and a significant part of that has to do with tennis legend Serena Williams. Her glittering 27-year career defined a new era of tennis and inspired sponsors to take women’s sports more seriously, from fatter endorsement deals to supporting them on key issues like pay inequality or racism.

Two losses in two days, and the journey was over. On September 2, Serena Williams lost to Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic at the US Open, just a day after she and her sister Venus exited the doubles competition. And within Arthur Ashe Stadium was a sense of acceptance that the Williams era is over.

The sisters helped usher in a new era of sponsorships for female athletes. Jeff Kearney, global head of sports marketing for Gatorade, said Serena especially has made a permanent impact on marketing budgets everywhere, and that her overwhelming success convinced the PepsiCo division to spend more on women athletes in 2009. “Across brands and the different companies she works with, they’re investing more on the women’s game,” said Kearney.

Serena has worked with a number of brands, beginning with a five-year Puma sponsorship, valued at $13 million, at the beginning of her career. A long-standing partnership with Nike followed in 2003, which has grown to include an in-house incubator for fashion designers. The company has also dedicated the largest building on its Oregon, US, campus to her. In addition, Delta Air Lines and JPMorgan Chase & Co. have also been sponsors.

“The thing about Serena is, she transcends sport,” said Tanya Hvizdak, vice-president of global women’s sports marketing at Nike. “She shows [that] it’s beyond performance. Obviously that’s provided her a platform, but her engagement in so many different other aspects and showing the dimensions of herself, whether it’s as a mother or a champion of diverse designers or other aspects, will be her legacy.”

A long fight
Female athletes have long had to fight for sponsorships or institutional pay. The US Soccer Federation announced only earlier this year that male and female athletes would be compensated equally, while pay disparities persist in golf, basketball and tennis.

For its part, Nike changed its policies for pregnant athletes after runner Allyson Felix and others alleged that they were mistreated during their pregnancies. In March, the company also unveiled a new think-tank initiative, which includes Serena and 12 other Nike-sponsored female athletes.

Even in the later stages of her career, Serena kept attracting brands, like Michelob Ultra beer, which featured her in a Super Bowl ad alongside WNBA star Nneka Ogwumike and women’s World Cup champion Alex Morgan.

Ricardo Marques, vice-president of marketing, Michelob Ultra, said Serena played a pivotal role in boosting dollars spent on women in sports. Last year, Michelob committed $100 million to marketing women’s sports over five years, pledging equal representation of men and women on its endorsement roster. Executives said half of its lifestyle content will promote women’s athletes by 2025. “Serena Williams was a catalyst,” said Marques. “She gave confidence to brands like us to come forward and put these commitments, dollars, to make that support more visible.”

Sponsors’ support
But support is not just financial; it also involves standing by the athletes when they navigate issues like inequality or racism. Both Williams sisters have endured racism throughout their careers, and Serena has also called out double standards and unfair treatment at times. After the French Open objected to a jumpsuit she wore in 2018, Nike tweeted its support.

“Support in those moments is key, also because it’s an issue of women’s rights and opportunities in that aspect,” said Hvizdak.

So, what’s next for brands in a post-Serena world of sports? As viewership and support continue to grow for women’s sports, brands are prepared to continue investing. “You’re seeing the money come into play, but there needs to be more of it industrywide,” Hvizdak said. “We continue to lead in this space and we need to pull people with us. That’s the goal.”

In fact, though Serena Williams is bidding farewell to the tennis circuit, brands aren’t moving on from her. “Her name is always at the top of the list,” said Kearney.
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Griner's release has sparked calls for the release of other detained Americans in Russia, like Paul Whelan.

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Content: Phoenix Mercury unveil their 2023 business plan: Blame, badger and scold the fans

A freshman major in business would have thought better than to scold the very consumers of the WNBA for what the Mercury coach took as a slight to Brittney Griner.

Phil Boas
Arizona Republic
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Before the start of the next WNBA season, perhaps the Phoenix Mercury could fill their greatest need:

A team economist.

In fact, not even an economist. That’s too extravagant. They could fill the need with a freshman business major from Arizona State University.

Because business acumen is the gaping hole in the Mercury lineup, as the head coach of the Phoenix Mercury demonstrated on Friday.

Coach Vanessa Nygaard made that clear when she used the postgame interview not to rebuild her team's confidence after a 23-point blowout, but to lecture and scold the 10 million people of greater Los Angeles area for not buying tickets to the WNBA opener.

Mercury coach annoyed by turnout in LA

This contest marked the return of Brittney Griner, the Mercury’s star center who had spent the last season in a Russian prison cell. More than 10,000 fans were n hand to welcome Griner, among them luminaries Magic Johnson and Billie Jean King.

They were joined by Vice President Kamala Harris and Los Angeles Lakers coach Darvin Ham.

Sorry, not good enough.

You see, the Los Angeles spectators had filled the first level of seating at Crypto.com arena, but beyond that the crowd was pretty sparse.

In her post-game remarks, Nygaard, the Mercury’s head coach, was visibly annoyed.

“I mean, it was great. But like honestly, c’mon now LA. We didn’t sell out the arena for BG?" she said. "Like, I expected more, you know, to be honest. Right, it was great, it was loud. But how was it not a sellout? How was it not a sellout?"

Imagine a CEO going on a rant against consumers

Let’s try to imagine this in another business context.

The CEO of, say, PepsiCo, has just run a special on Pepsi Cola. The first question from the media is how did it go? He frowns and says:

"I mean, it was great. But like honestly, c’mon America. We didn’t sell out? Like, I expected more, you know, to be honest. Right, it was great, but how was it not a sellout? How was it not a sellout?

“You imbeciles. You ingrates.”

Yeah, that’s probably not going to work.

The first rule in business is the customer is always right. And when the WNBA tells its paying customer they are wrong, it comes off as, well, smug and entitled.

No, it is not good business strategy to tell women basketball fans they should be grateful for the honor of handing you their hard-earned cash.

Which they won’t be, which any first-year ASU business major could tell you.

Those same college kids taking Economics 100 would further explain you’ve just hung a lantern on your business model, telling the world you’re incapable of selling your product even under the most ideal circumstances – the dramatic return of your now biggest star.

Nygaard has a habit of post-game lecture

Perhaps Nygaard is unfulfilled coaching professional sports, because she is using her platform often to play the hectoring scold.

And it gets her in trouble.

As it did last year when she ripped the people who chose the WNBA All-Star Game lineup for leaving the Mercury’s Diana Taurasi off the roster.

Well, who chooses the WNBA All-Star roster? That would begin with the WNBA fans, who vote their favorites into the All-Star Game.

"I reiterate that she (Diana Taurasi) should be an All-Star," Nygaard said. "There will be a game in Chicago, but it will not be an All-Star game because Diana Taurasi's not playing."

Not an All-Star game?

That didn’t sit well with fellow Mercury player Skylar Diggins-Smith, whom fans had voted onto the All-Star lineup. Her coach was telling the world she wouldn’t be playing in a true All-Star game.

Diggins-Smith retweeted video of her coach’s comments with a clown emoji.

Yes, if Brittney were LeBron, things would be different

Also last year, Nygaard was once again employing the blame game. Her Highness said Brittney Griner was still in captivity because Americans and our government are racist, sexist and homophobic.

"If it was LeBron, he'd be home, right?" Nygaard asked. "It's a statement about the value of women. It's a statement about the value of a Black person. It's a statement about the value of a gay person. All of those things. We know it, and so that's what hurts a little more."

How it was “a statement about the value of a Black person” is a bit puzzling given that both James and Griner are African American.

But beyond that, if she was saying brand “LeBron James” carries more weight in this culture than brand “Brittney Griner,” she’s darn right. No WNBA star can come anywhere close to the superstar wattage of LeBron James. He’s probably among the Top Five most famous people on Earth.

And yes, that no doubt matters in bringing prisoners home.

As did Brittney Griner’s well-earned celebrity – NCAA, Olympic and WNBA champion – gave her clout that an average, boring white guy named Paul Whelan didn’t have. He was taken prisoner long before Griner and still remains in a Russian prison, because he is not a household name.

I don’t begrudge that fact. I wouldn’t even know the name Paul Whelan if it weren’t for Brittney Griner. He owes her a debt of gratitude for putting his name and situation in the spotlight, and for not forgetting him when she was finally set free. She still implores Americans not to forget him and others in Russian captivity.

The truth is that Nygaard knows better

The pity of all this is that Nygaard knows better. There is no purer form of meritocracy than collegiate and professional sports. If you don’t cut it there, it’s not because of the fans. It’s not because Americans don't like gay people or women or people of color.

Nygaard would never coach her team the way she wields her politics, the incessant blame game, the excuses, the hunt for scapegoats. That won’t cut in sports – not at the high level Nygaard has achieved. In sports, the reason you’re losing is painfully clear.

Nygaard was no loser. She was a star at NCAA powerhouse Stanford University, where she was one of the greatest 3-point shooters in school and NCAA history. During her time there, The Cardinal went 113-14. She made it into the WNBA and played six years before turning to coaching, where she has been stellar.

She is where she is today, because she worked like hell to get there.

Nygaard needs to stop blaming the fans and Americans and the government and start applying the lessons that have shaped her successful life and career.

Phil Boas is an editorial columnist for The Arizona Republic. He can be reached at phil.boas@arizonarepublic.com.

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Griner's arrest and release reflect the complex US-Russia relationship.

Title:

Content: Democracy Dies in Darkness

LeBron James criticizes U.S. effort to bring home Brittney Griner

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As WNBA star Brittney Griner approaches her fifth month in Russian custody, LeBron James criticized the U.S. response to her detainment and questioned whether she would even want to return to her home country.

“Now, how can she feel like America has her back?” James said in a trailer for the latest episode of his talk show, “The Shop: Uninterrupted.” “I would be feeling like, ‘Do I even want to go back to America?’ ”

The episode — which features a wide-ranging discussion between James, co-host Maverick Carter, show creator Paul Rivera, actor Daniel Kaluuya, British soccer star Marcus Rashford and artist Rashid Johnson — will air in its entirety Friday on YouTube.

Why was Brittney Griner in Russia, and why is she being detained?

It’s unclear when the episode was filmed, but the NBA superstar’s comments were released days after Phoenix Mercury Coach Vanessa Nygaard mentioned James while speaking about Griner’s situation.

“If it was LeBron, he’d be home, right?” Nygaard said during a news conference last week. “It’s a statement about the value of women. It’s a statement about the value of a Black person. It’s a statement about the value of a gay person. All of those. We know it.”

James is one of several high-profile athletes who have publicly advocated for further efforts to bring Griner home. In June, the Lakers star shared a tweet calling on President Biden and Vice President Harris to “bring Brittney home swiftly and safely by taking action today.”

Uninterrupted, a multimedia company founded in part by James, sold shirts stating “We Are BG” this week to benefit the advocacy fund set up by Griner’s family.

Griner was arrested Feb. 17 and charged with carrying vape cartridges allegedly containing cannabis oil in her baggage at Sheremetyevo International Airport outside Moscow. If convicted, she could face up to 10 years in prison. Griner pleaded guilty to the charge in a Russian court on Thursday.

Earlier this month, Griner wrote a letter to Biden. In it, she said she was “terrified” she might be in Russia “forever” and urged Biden to work for her release and that of other Americans detained abroad.

“I realize you are dealing with so much, but please don’t forget about me and the other American Detainees,” Griner wrote. “Please do all you can to bring us home. I voted for the first time in 2020 and I voted for you. I believe in you. I still have so much good to do with my freedom that you can help restore. ... I am grateful for whatever you can do at this moment to get me home.”

President Biden told Griner’s wife, Cherelle, in a call on Wednesday that he is working to secure the basketball player’s release “as soon as possible,” the White House said.

Griner's return has brought record viewership to the WNBA and positivity to the Mercury locker room, also highlighting pay disparity in women's sports.

Title:

Content: ‘She brings light’: Brittney Griner’s triumphant return to the WNBA

Prior to being detained in a Russian prison for 294 days, Brittney Griner was on top of the world.

The 32-year-old was coming off one of the best WNBA seasons of her career. She was the Most Valuable Player runner-up, averaging 20.5 points and 9.5 rebounds for the Phoenix Mercury, who she led back to the WNBA finals for the first time since winning the title in 2014. Meanwhile, Griner was on her way to play for Russian club UMMC Ekaterinburg, who she had led to four EuroLeague titles since she started spending her WNBA off-seasons there in 2014.

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At the time of her arrest Griner was, according to the testimony of her Russian teammate Evgenia Belyakova, “the most beloved player in Russia.”

To become such a popular figure in both America and Russia is no easy task for a gay, Black woman. But Griner’s ascent was never easy. She was bullied relentlessly growing up, first for her size and later for her sexuality, becoming one of the first active athletes in professional North American sports to come out as gay, shortly after being drafted No 1 overall by the Mercury in 2013.

In her first game as a pro, the 6ft 9in Griner towered over her opponents, changing the perceptions of what a female basketball player was capable of when she set a WNBA record with two dunks in a game. Griner went on to win a WNBA title, two Olympic gold medals, and seven WNBA All-Star appearances, on pace to achieve a level of greatness few ever have in the women’s game, and being marketed accordingly.

In fact, Griner was the first openly gay athlete to be endorsed by Nike. And the WNBA used her at the center of its marketing, acknowledging that gay athletes and LGBTQ+ activists like Griner were good for business.

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So when it all came crashing down at a Moscow airport on 17 February 2022, when Griner was found with vape cartridges containing traces of hashish oil in her luggage, not only did her career come to a screeching halt, but the league that she had been bound to since 2013 lost some of its forward momentum, too. She was later sentenced to nine years in Russian prison.

As much as Griner tried to stay positive, and as much as the WNBA community tried to help, a cloud hung over the entire 2022 season – one that would not dissipate until Griner was released and returned to America.

“Last year, it felt as though we couldn’t play with joy … It felt bad for us to be happy or to celebrate things because the weight of BG’s wrongful detainment weighed over us,” says former Mercury head coach Vanessa Nygaard.

When the US negotiated a prisoner swap to secure Griner’s freedom last December, she almost immediately announced her intention to return to the WNBA in 2023, signing a one-year deal with the Mercury. But nobody knew what to expect from Griner, who had spent almost a year under arduous physical and mental conditions.

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But, against all odds, Griner appears to be back to her normal self, on and off the court.

Related: WNBA power lies with two superteams. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing

In her first WNBA game in 579 days, Griner had 18 points, six rebounds and four blocks in a loss to the Los Angeles Sparks. In her first home game a couple of days later, she hit just the seventh three-pointer of her career, yelling “I’m back!” to the crowd of 14,000 cheering fans.

“I appreciate everything a little more,” Griner said about being back in the league. “All the little, small moments that I used to just [think]: ‘Oh, I’m so tired, I don’t want to go to practice today. And, oh, this and that.’ That has changed, honestly. Just appreciating everything because tomorrow’s not guaranteed.”

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Griner is averaging 19.1 points, 6.4 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 2.4 blocks on a career-high 61.8% shooting through her first nine games of the 2023 season. She is back to being the Mercury’s best player, dominating in the post over swarms of defenders and blocking everything that comes her way on the other end of the floor. After being an honorary All-Star selection last season, Griner was named an All-Star starter on Sunday.

But what may be even more impressive is the enthusiasm and spirit she has brought to the Mercury and the WNBA, constantly flashing her trademark smile, joking around at press conferences, and uplifting her teammates at every opportunity.

“We were all hoping that she was going to be OK coming back, and that she did not lose her light, and she really didn’t,” says Mercury forward Megan Gustafson, adding that Griner’s presence has transformed the locker room. “I think we were a little bit surprised, because anyone that goes through an experience like that – I mean, I couldn’t even imagine being the same person. But she really is and I’m just so proud of her and just the light that she brings again … It’s really just her light, her positivity that [has] shone through.”

Sandy Brondello, who coached Griner in Phoenix for eight seasons prior to moving on to New York, is also glowing about the player’s return to the WNBA. “It’s like sometimes we sweat having a bad game – she was in prison,” says Brondello. “She had to live in prison for such a long time. So I think she has that joy. Just go out there and play.”

Griner has brought a lot of attention to the WNBA, which was already growing rapidly. Not only is the league averaging almost 1,000 more fans a game in Griner’s return season, but its broadcasts have also hit record viewership numbers – up 49% from last season across ESPN networks.

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“I think that if you look at last season, there was something and someone missing in the WNBA and that was obviously Brittney Griner,” former WNBA MVP and Griner’s one-time UMMC Ekaterinburg teammate Breanna Stewart says. “So the ability to have her back here kind of makes our circle complete, because she is such a force and a presence on and off the court and her ability to kind of be so dominant and aggressive but also such a kind, caring person – everybody’s missed that.”

Griner’s on-court play cannot be separated from her political advocacy off it, especially in a league as socially active as the WNBA. And Griner’s imprisonment has forced the WNBA to reckon with its lackluster treatment of athletes in the past, forcing the league to improve pay and travel standards so that the Griner situation does not repeat itself.

After all, the primary reason that Griner was in Russia in the first place is because her salary at UMMC Ekaterinburg is over $1m compared to the $165,100 she will make this year in the WNBA. In fact, 67 of the league’s 144 players still played internationally last off-season despite Griner’s detainment. Doing so is a financial necessity rather than a choice for most of the world’s best female basketball players.

The incident also highlighted concerns about commercial travel for WNBA players, many of whom are gay, Black women who can be targets of abuse. In fact, Griner has already been harassed this season when a conservative media personality confronted her and her teammates inside a Dallas airport in mid-June.

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In the past, the league has argued that charter flights create an unfair competitive advantage for teams that can afford to pay for them, fining the New York Liberty $500,000 for chartering flights last season. But the WNBA has already made improvements this season, allowing private flights for back-to-back games and for all playoff games. And after the news of Griner’s harassment and the pressure that came from it, the league recently announced that teams are permitted to fly on a public chartering service called JSX for the rest of the season.

It’s a step in the right direction that may not have been possible if not for Griner – a singular force who is as easy to galvanize around because of her on-court performances as she is for her personality. The league still has a long way to go in regards to growing the game and improving standards for its athletes, but Griner’s return has undoubtedly expedited the process.

“It’s a shame that it had to get to rock bottom. Because I feel like waiting for something to happen and then making a change, you don’t know what that something’s gonna be,” Griner said. “We’ve all seen what can happen in this world. And when you play the ‘let’s wait and see game,’ you’re really playing with fire. You’re playing with people’s lives.

“So I’m glad that they finally got it together and are going to allow us to do this. It’s just a shame that it took so damn long.”