Alissa Wykes (born 1967 or 1968)[1] is a former American football running back who played for the Philadelphia Liberty Belles of the National Women's Football Association.[2][3][4] When she was playing, she was 5'6" tall, weighed 209 pounds, and was nicknamed "A-Train" by her teammates.[5] Previously, she played softball at Upper Moreland High School in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania.[6]

Biography

Wykes was one of the first active American athletes to publicly come out as gay when she announced that she was lesbian in an article in the December 2001/January 2002 edition of Sports Illustrated for Women.[7][5][1] Catherine Masters, owner of the league, condemned Wykes for pursuing her own "personal agenda", claiming that the league had received "hundreds of phone calls. Gay people were saying it was horrible. Straight people were saying it was great."[8] In 2003, Wykes participated as a panel member at the first National Gay/Lesbian Athletics Conference at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts.[5][4] Wykes joked that she felt "great empathy for the women on my team who are straight. I mean—a straight female football player?"[4]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Rothaus, Steve (April 28, 2003). "Ex-Padre shows pride out of the closet". The Ottawa Citizen. Retrieved May 6, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ↑ Lofton, Steve; Croteau, Roger (September 2002). "Alissa Wykes". Out. p. 84. Retrieved 3 May 2021.
  3. ↑ Crane, Michael (2004). "2002 Influential Gays and Gay Allies". The Political Junkie Handbook. S.P.I. Books. p. 261. ISBN 9781561718917.
  4. 1 2 3 Garfield, Simon (4 May 2003). "Is anyone out there?". The Observer. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
  5. 1 2 3 DuLong, Jessica (19 February 2002). "Out in the field: pro footballer Alissa Wykes talks about breaking new ground for out lesbian athletes--and the flak she's gotten along the way". The Advocate. pp. 32–35. Retrieved 4 January 2012.
  6. ↑ Miles, Gary (May 7, 1984). "Rookie pitcher comes through for the Bears". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved May 6, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ↑ Bonham, Mark S. (2017). Lesbian Football/Soccer Players. Bonham & Company. p. 96-97. ISBN 978-0993960031. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  8. ↑ Hipp, Deb (31 October 2002). "Dreams of Fields". The Pitch. Kansas City. Retrieved 3 May 2021.


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