Carley Knox is a former DI soccer player and Minnesota Lynx president of business operations who spearheaded the creation of the Lynx President’s Circle club for supporters to get more involved with the team and give back to their community. She was the Grand Marshal of 2024 Twin Cities Pride. “Carley’s continued dedication to the LGBTQIA+ community has not gone unnoticed,” Twin Cities Pride said. She and Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve have been married since 2011 and have a son, Oliver. 

– Outsports

The 77-year-old Hall Of Fame coach has been a part of women’s basketball — and the march for respect for women’s sports — for 54 years. Now, all these years after her foray into sports, she’s a 2024 Outsports Power 100 honoree. Dunn is a legend in the women’s sports world, having advocated for inclusion for over five decades

– Karleigh Webb

One thing remains a constant throughout Women’s Basketball Hall of Famer Natalie Williams’s career in the sport: excellence. She compiled honors as a four-time WNBA All-Star, Olympic gold medalist and two-time All-American during her playing career, and added more after assuming the role of general manager with the Las Vegas Aces in 2022. She helped lead the team to back-to-back WNBA titles in her first two years. Her legacy of success contributes to the power of the WNBA and women’s sports overall in showcasing the ability of LGBTQ athletes and executives and breaking down cultural barriers within sports.

– Brian C. Bell

A longtime member of the Baltimore Orioles front office, Greg Bader continues to live his boyhood dream of working within the sport that enamored him as a child. Since joining the team as an intern in 1994, Bader rose to be the team’s Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President during the 2024 season, the team’s first consecutive playoff appearances since 1997. He is now set to take on a new role with the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN), the regional sports network that broadcasts Orioles and  Washington Nationals games, as Executive Vice President and General Manager of the network.

– Brian C. Bell

Even though she retired as an active player last year, Megan Rapinoe has remained front and center as an influential LGBTQ voice in the sports world. Along with wife Sue Bird, Rapinoe co-hosts a podcast called “A Touch More” addressing topics like racism in the WNBA and Alex Morgan’s retirement. She was also in attendance at the Paris Olympics to witness the U.S. women’s return to soccer glory. With a 2012 Olympic gold medal and two Women’s World Cup titles to her credit, Rapinoe is quite familiar with USWNT triumphs on the world stage.

– Ken Schultz

Two years after hanging up her kicks as a WNBA legend, Sue Bird remains a driving force in LGBTQ and female advancement in sports. The four-time WNBA champion added her first title as an owner with Gotham FC’s NWSL championship while keeping the conversation around equity and intersectionality in women’s sports on the front of mind amid the rising profile and investment in female athletics with the restart of the podcast she hosts with fiance Megan Rapinoe. Her legacy got a permanent location in August when the Seattle Storm icon had a street near Climate Pledge Arena named in her honor.

– Brian C. Bell

Sam Rapaport has been a champion for women and LGBTQ people in football for many years. Utilizing her role at the NFL she has fostered programs that have resulted in the hiring of over a dozen women in coaching positions, as well as officials. She has also been instrumental in the league’s efforts to promote women and girls flag football.

– Outsports

When Christine Vicari married her wife and came out to her NFL colleagues in 2014, she was shocked. “I had a line outside my office the next morning of people who were just completely shocked,” she told Outsports. “Everyone was so amazing and so supportive, and that shifted my mindset, too, of thinking about the NFL differently.” The former college softball player is now an integral member of the business side of the National Football League, part of a team that sets the annual salary cap, revenue sharing and other key components that allow the NFL to function.

– Outsports

Earlier this year, Candace Parker announced her retirement from playing in the WNBA saying in her announcement, “I promised I’d never cheat the game and that I’d leave it in a better place than I came into it.” She left the WNBA as a player in style, last season winning her third WNBA Championship as part of a dominant Las Vegas Aces team. She won those three titles with three different teams and is regarded as one of the greatest all-around players ever. Candace Parker didn’t cheat the game. She evolved it. Now she’s a popular TV commentator for the NBA and the NCAA men’s college basketball tournament for TNT.

– Karleigh Webb

Clay Allen is the general counsel for the Houston Rockets and one of the most high-profile gay man in a pro sports front office. Allen came out publicly as gay in 2022 and is not shying away from being an advocate for more representation and visibility. A proud Baylor University law school alum, Allen was asked by the school’s website this month what achievements he was most proud of: “I’m most proud of having spent over 17 years with the Houston Rockets. When I left the Rockets in 2007 to attend Baylor, I had no idea I would end up back with the team as a lawyer. I’m also proud of my career path: I began my career as a part-time Marketing Associate throwing T-shirts to fans during timeouts of Rockets games, and now I’m the team’s General Counsel. Finally, I’m proud to have been named #21 on the Outsports Power 100 list of the most influential LGBTQ people in sports, alongside sports royalty such as Billie Jean King, Jason Collins, and Baylor’s own Brittney Griner. Being an advocate for DEI initiatives and the LGBTQ+ community has always been important to me, and being named to this prestigious list with such sports heavyweights was an amazing honor.”

– Jim Buzinski