In 2013, then-Baylor star Brittney Griner made a brave decision by becoming one of the first athletes to openly come out as a lesbian. Just a couple of months later, the WNBA welcomed the NCAA champion with wide-open arms as the Phoenix Mercury drafted her first overall. She even inked an endorsement deal with apparel giant Nike, becoming the first openly gay athlete to do so. But the path to accomplishing this acceptance wasn’t easy at all!

Years before this brave decision, Griner first came out to her mother in ninth grade. As she knew, her mother embraced and assured her when she announced the news. But when it came to her father, he declared, “I’m raising no gay girl.” Read on to know the entire tale of the two-time Olympian’s bond with her parents.

Brittney Griner only had her mom to lean on during childhood

Brittney Griner’s parents, Raymond and Sandra, met in Texas. As they paired well, they eventually tied the knot and welcomed two daughters, Pier and Brittney. Since then, Brittney and Pier blended with Raymond’s children from previous marriages, DeCarlo and SheKera. “My brother, DeCarlo, is seventeen years older than me, and my sister, SheKera, is ten years older,” Griner penned in her memoir, In My Skin: My Life on and off the Basketball Court.

“They have always been great to me, and we consider each other full blood, but it’s not like we were all running around the yard, playing games, living under the same roof,” she added, revealing the differences created due to age gaps. But DeCarlo and SheKera weren’t the only ones Brittney found difficult to bond with.

In fact, her sister Pier, who was only five years older, was completely different. While Brittney was “rough and tumble,” her sister was a “girly girl.” “She was always in the house, talking on the phone, playing with dolls, watching Saved by the Bell, while I was outside wrestling with the dog in the mud,” added Brittney. So, the only person Brittney was really close to was her mom, Sandra Griner.

For Brittney, her homemaker mom was always there to calm the youngster. “She taught me how to sew, and I would curl up on her lap in the living room.” And that’s why when Sandra was diagnosed with lupus during her daughter’s freshman year, Brittney was numb. “She has always let me be me, let me figure out who I am, when so many other people were telling me who I should be. I have never felt judged by her. Never.”

As her mother was hit quite hard and left in a wheelchair, it was time for Brittney to step up. And she did. She pulled herself out of the 2012 Olympic Team consideration to help her out. Despite a lot of criticism, Brittney and her mom leaned on each other. “I’m not going to lie; there were difficult times for Brittney at Baylor…I’m just so glad we’re in that next phase now,” Sandra told ESPN in 2013.

As her mother healed, so did Brittney. In 2016, she for the first time hit the Olympic berth and returned with a Gold. Since then, she’s never missed the Olympic roster. As of now, she has two Gold medals, and this year, she’ll be going for her third, a perfect way to silence any remaining critics.

For Brittney Griner, revealing her true self wasn’t easy, especially when she had a tough time growing up. Griner, 33, still faces circumstances that often trigger her childhood bullying memories. Despite all this, Griner always had a deep faith that no matter what, her parents were there to console her.

And that did happen. When she first came out to her mother, she accepted her as she was. However, for her father, it was something unacceptable. But, driven by the undeniable love for his daughter, her father slowly and gradually accepted her as she was. He even started inviting her friends over just for her.

Griner’s sweet and sour childhood

Raymond Griner, a Vietnam War veteran, wasn’t really welcoming of Brittney’s choices initially. In fact, he did not accept her and even stopped her from inviting friends over. “At first, I would ask my dad for permission to join them: ‘Can I go to my friend’s house?’ And he would quickly say no, without even really considering it, his voice like a rock dropping,” she wrote in her memoir. This led to tension between Brittney and her dad. In her second year of college, she finally took a stand and moved out of her house.

Soon, she realized it would not work like that and went on to show her dad the power of trust. And BG soon realized the perks of bettering her relationship with her dad. But, there’s a secret! It’s just one side of the story. Raymond’s strictness and discipline were due to his “’68 and ’69 in Vietnam in the jungle.”

Afterward, he took up a few security jobs until becoming a sheriff in Harris County. For the next 35 years, he held the same position. His military experience was something that rubbed off on his daughter as a teen. For Brittney, she even envisioned following the footsteps of her father, specifically in the Air Force. In fact, the two have a lot of good memories together while Brittney was growing up.

While she was learning to walk, her father started teaching her auto repair skills. He even gifted her a 2006 Dodge Magnum when she was a high school student. And that’s why she’s a self-proclaimed “daddy’s girl.” But Griner’s ambition to follow her father’s career never happened.

“I thought I was going to go into law enforcement as well, or maybe even enlist. That didn’t really happen; basketball was my calling,” she told Baylor Bear Insider ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. She added, “Now, to be able to put on (the USA jersey) and represent my country in that way, it means everything to me. It means everything to my dad and our family.”

But Griner’s family isn’t just limited to her siblings or parents. She has a wife, Cherelle Griner, whom she married in June 2019. On July 8 this year, the couple welcomed a new addition to the family, a son named Bash Griner. This makes Griner’s Olympics even more special, as it will be her first with her son. Will she be able to gift him a gold? Stay tuned to find out!

Stay tuned for more such updates and join us for the exciting pilot episode of the “Dual Threat Show” as our host BG12 sits down with Georgia Bulldogs star and SEC All-Freshman Team Selection, Silas Demary Jr.