The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
An activist approach
Clarendon a vocal LGBTQ supporter, details abuse claim
UNCASVILLE — The press release announced Layshia Clarendon’s trade from Atlanta to Connecticut naturally referenced the former University of California star’s breakout 2017 WNBA season. However, no mere reciting of Clarendon’s gaudy statistics, including becoming the sixth player in WNBA history with more than 200 assists in a season, could truly capture the essence of the newest addition to the Connecticut Sun roster.
Clarendon took care of that herfinal self in a revealing post on The Players’ Tribune titled, “Keeping the Faith” In 2015.
“I identify as black, gay, female, non-cisgender and Christian,” Clarendon wrote. “I am an outsider even on the inside of every community to which I belong. My very existence challenges every racial, sexual, gender and religious barrier.”
One title Clarendon didn’t bestow on herself was that of a sexual assault victim. Actually, victim is probably not the most appropriate word. The strong-minded Clarendon is many things but a victim would not make the list. She is a survivor, a battler, an activist.
In 2015, Clarendon was wrapping up her third WNBA season and her one with the Indiana Fever. It was her Indiana teammate Tamika Catchings who stressed to Clarendon the importance of bringing more to the table that merely being a great basketball player.
“You learn so much and you get your eyes open to a lot of injustices in this country,” Clarendon said earlier this week as her Connecticut Sun team prepared to face Phoenix in Thursday night’s WNBA secondround game. “As a black woman who is queer, I understand a lot of issues that we face. I am definitely unapolo-
getic in speaking up, that comes from my faith and fearlessness. I try to do it in groups of people so it is something that comes from within.
“I think leaving a legacy is something I took from Tamika Catchings. You are going to break a lot of records but whatever happens on the court, how you treated people and impacted the community is what is going to leave that legacy, so that is a lot on what I focus on, basketball is like a vehicle and I want to be the best I can be but that doesn’t limit to what you do off the court. I think the old school mentality is all you have to do is care about basketball and you see this generation, we are very passionate, we are very skilled but we have other interests that we care about. There are a lot of grass-roots movements and we want to change the world for the better.”
When Clarendon revealed that she was gay, she said the feedback was exceedingly positive. She received letters from families who said her revelations might have saved the life of a loved one who shared many of her thoughts and feelings.
Clarendon wasn’t ready to reveal to Catchings or to the world her own personal injustice at that time.
Clarendon told nobody of that harrowing day when she was a freshman at Cal when she said she was sexually assaulted by Mohamed Muqtar, an employee in the Cal athletic department for more than 25 years.
Last year she broke her silence to her girlfriend, who is now her wife. Once she uttered the words of an event that she had put out of her mind, the activist in her was determined to be a survivor rather than a victim.
In January Clarendon filed a civil lawsuit in Alameda County Superior Court. Clarendon didn’t know how many others had been victimized by Muqtar but she was determined to make sure the next generation of Cal student-athletes didn’t have to go through what she did. Other victims stepped forward and in May it was announced that Muqtar was fired by Cal.
“Thankful and happy,” Clarendon said. “The fact that he is being removed was a goal of mine in initially speaking out. Having a goal and to achieve it in life is great on any terms but especially something like this where the Bay area is home for me and knowing that I want to be able to walk around there (freely), reclaim Cal as my space again. I just bought a condo in Oakland so to be back in the Bay Area knowing that I have a house there and this wasn’t still looming over me was really important. I felt a sense of achievement but I also felt a sense of heartbreak that it happened to so many people, I wasn’t the only one. So it was a mix of feelings there so overall it was a good feeling in the sense that some form of justice had been served.”
Clarendon began to see a psychologist and beginning the process of dealing with unresolved issues not only helped her frame of mind away from the court but carried over to the higher level of play on it.
“I had my best year which is great and part of that was dealing with all the emotions behind the scenes,” Clarendon said. “A lot of times you are healthier on the court when you are healthier off the court. The old school mentality of put it all in the back of your mind and play basketball, we are not robots who can just throw everything away, it helped me be healthier off the court and let me have more freedom to enjoy (it) on the court. Counseling was tough, dealing (with) this trauma that I never processed, having to process that in the moment was not easy but it was something I am glad I went through because I am a lot healthier for it now.”