Minnesota Lynx star Seimone Augustus
hopes to marry her fiancee LaTaya Varner in Minnesota.
The 29-year-old Augustus, who earned
MVP honors while leading the Lynx to the 2011 WNBA championship, told
reporters on Friday that she would marry in Minnesota if a marriage
bill pending in the Minnesota Senate is approved on Monday and signed
into law by Tuesday.
“It's just [an] exciting thing to see
so many people support it,” Augustus said during her first day of
training camp with the Lynx.
Augustus strongly voiced her opposition
to last year's referendum on a constitutional amendment which sought
to limit marriage to heterosexual couples. Voters rejected the
amendment, but gay and lesbian couples remained unable to marry in
the state. Instead, Augustus and Varner planned to exchange vows in
Iowa, where such unions were legalized in 2009.
But that plan was scuttled due to an
earlier-than-expected start for Lynx training camp.
When asked if she now plans to marry in
Minnesota, Augustus, a Louisiana native, answered: “Of course, why
not? This is like my adopted home.”
“We'll have to plan [the wedding] for
the end of the season,” she
said. “Hopefully after we win the championship.”
(Related: Seimone
Augustus says she hopes her coming out helps others.)