This week in Queer Parents Doing Cool Things: Several queer moms were among the players named to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame’s Class of 2026.
The Hall announced three individual women’s inductees on Saturday: WNBA legends Candace Parker and Chamique Holdsclaw, both also queer moms, and Elena Delle Donne, who is also queer, but not a parent (and all kudos to her, but my focus is on parents here at Mombian). Additionally, the 1996 U.S. Women’s Olympic Team was selected for its group accomplishments in helping to elevate women’s basketball; the members include at least one more queer mom. All of the new inductees will be enshrined at festivities in August.
Parker is a two-time Olympic gold medalist, the first player in WNBA history to win a championship with three different teams (Los Angeles, Chicago, and Las Vegas), and the only player to win MVP and Rookie of the Year in the same season (2008); she was also MVP in 2013 and a 10-time All-WNBA honoree, among many career honors. Parker retired in 2024. She and spouse Anna Petrakova, a former Olympic basketball player for Russia, are raising three children.
Chamique Holdsclaw was the WNBA Rookie of the Year in 1999, a six-time WNBA All-Star, and an Olympic Gold Medalist (2000), among other accomplishments. She played for the Washington Mystics and Los Angeles Sparks, retired in 2007, and came back to play for the Atlanta Dream and San Antonio Silver Stars from 2009 to 2010 before her final retirement. She and spouse Cara Holdsclaw, an NBA executive, have two children.
Jennifer Azzi, a member of the 1996 team, began her professional basketball career before the WNBA existed, and played for several overseas teams and one in the American Basketball League before signing with the Detroit Shock in 1999 and the Utah Starzz/San Antonio Silver Stars from 2000 to 2003. She has served as a basketball executive and media analyst. Azzi has two children with spouse Blair Hardiek.
Sheryl Swoopes, another member of that team (who also won gold in 2000 and 2004), had a son with her first husband. The couple divorced and she raised her child with new partner Alisa Scott from 2005 to 2011. The women then separated and Swoopes married her second husband. It is unclear how she now identifies (in 2005 she said she was not bisexual, but that was obviously before she was with her second husband), so I’m not sure whether to include her on this list, but I mention her just in case. (I never want to exclude anyone who belongs, and bi parents certainly do, but nor do I want to give someone a label that doesn’t fit.) She spent most of her career with the Houston Comets, but also played for the Seattle Storm and Tulsa Shock. She was a four-time WNBA champion, three-time WNBA MVP, and six-time WNBA All-Star.
Holdsclaw and Azzi had children after retiring; Parker and Swoopes were still playing after they became moms. I’m happy to see that the WNBA’s newly agreed upon Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) includes enhanced family planning benefits, provisions for pregnant players, a childcare stipend, nursing space, and more, so that players have even more flexibility in choosing when and how to start and raise their families, whether they do so during their playing days or later. (The new Unrivaled three-on-three league, created by players Breanna Stewart (a queer mom) and Napheesa Collier (a mom, but not queer) is also leading the way in supporting its parent players.)
Congratulations to all of the inductees!
Bonus tip: Expect at least one other queer parent in next year’s Hall of Fame inductees, as GOAT Diana Taurasi, who has two children with spouse Penny Taylor, becomes eligible for induction.