11 gayest women's sports, the definitive ranking

It's no secret that queer women love sports.

From growing up playing softball or basketball, to the classic lesbian date of going on a hike, to the thousands of queer women who play professional sports around the world, sports are an integral part of many queer women's lives.

With that in mind, we've put together this list of the eleven gayest women's sports.

We know this list is going to be controversial. How gay a sport is may be very personal to many people. Yes, all of these sports are staggeringly gay, and all of them deserve a spot in the top five, maybe even the top three. That being said, we did put them in order from least gay to gayest. So this is canon now.

Did your favorite sport make our list? Keep reading to find out!

11. Tennis

Tennis is a classic gay sport, with legends of the sport like Billie Jean King (above) and Martina Navritolova (although she's since become a TERF) being outed in the early 1980s. Today, queer stars like Daria Kasatkina, Greet Minnen, Demi Schuurs, Nadia Podoroska, Guillermina Naya, Emina Bektas, and Tara Moore carry on the legacy.

10. Climbing/Bouldering

Rock climbing and bouldering may not be the first sports you think of when you think of queer women. However, the more you think about the two, the more they go perfectly together. I mean, what lesbian doesn't love carabiners? And that hand strength and dexterity? Legendary. Plus, climbing legends like Lynn Hill and Silvia Vasquez-Lavado give queer women a strong presence in the history of the sport.

9. Boxing

Traditionally, a hyper-masculine sport, queer women like Christy Martin and Nicola Adams (above) have been making history in boxing for years. Currently, stars like Nesthy Petecio, Kellie Harrington, Cindy Ngamba, and Beatriz Ferreira are keeping up the legacy with Olympic wins. Lesbians love a woman with muscles, and in boxing, women can show off that those impressive guns aren't just for looks!

8. Wrestling

The pageantry and costumes of professional wrestling make the sport inherently gay, and now that more and more women are getting opportunities to join, the sport is becoming a haven for queer women! Wrestlers like Sonya Deville (above), Mercedes Martinez, Shayna Baszler, Toni Storm, and Saraya are some queer stars we love to see in the ring!

7. Field Hockey

Field Hockey is an all-time classic lesbian high school sport. Many girls first discovered their queerness while running around a field, bashing into other girls, and chasing a ball with sticks. As long as there are girls playing sports, queer girls will play this sport.

6. Ice Hockey

Much like field hockey, ice hockey is one of the gayest sports a woman can play. It's such a gay sport that there are several examples of opponents from star women's hockey teams marrying each other! In 2018, Team USA star Meghan Duggan (above) and Team Canada star Gillian Apps got married. Previously, Team USA star Julie Chu married Canadian star Caroline Ouellette, and before that, Team Canada's Jayna Hefford and Team USA's Kathleen Kauth were married!

5. Softball

For many queer women, softball has a long tradition of being considered the ultimate lesbian sport. The show A League of Their Own, based on the movie of the same name and the real-life All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, highlighted the gay history of softball and baseball, and still today, queer women are drawn to the sports.

3. Basketball

Lesbians like Brittney Griner (above) have been making history in the WNBA since the early 2000s, and are an even bigger part of the sport now. Women's basketball would be nothing without queer players and fans, and the WNBA currently has at least 41 queer players in it.

4. Soccer

Soccer is another sport inexorably linked to lesbianism. The NWSL is one of the gayest sports leagues in the world, with over 50 out players playing in 2025. With legends like Megan Rapinoe, Christen Press, Tobin Heath, Ali Krieger, and Marta (above) as well as current stars like Tierna Davidson, Esther Gonzalez, Debinha, and Jess Fishlock, the sport will always be linked to queer women.

2. Rugby

Sports can hardly get gayer than rugby, the tougher, more physical cousin of soccer. Rugby players get bruised, beaten up, down, and dirty during games, and queer women can't stop signing up.

1. Roller Derby

Does anything say "queer women" like roller derby? This aggressive and physical sport is full of pageantry and slamming into one another – things that most lesbians love. It's also a haven for alternative crowds, meaning that queer women already have an inroad. Many sources even point to Texas Roller Derby, a queer-dominated league based in Austin, Texas, as one of the main leagues to revitalize the sport in the early 2000s. WNBA, NWSL, and women's rugby matches are great places to meet queer women, but nothing beats a good roller derby if you're looking for queer dates or queer community.