The lesbian sporting community has been long awaiting a lesbian confirmation from Las Vegas Aces’ rookie Kate Martin and this week was thrown into absolute tumult by what appears to be said confirmation. In her instagram stories, Kate posted a mirror selfie with likely girlfriend Claire Gransee with the message, “switched coasts for the weekend.”

A tiktok fan named Abbey, apparently echoing a common sentiment of heartbreak that Kate Martin had chosen to date someone besides her, posted an TikTok lamenting this development while also celebrating it, noting i can’t even be upset if that’s kate martin’s girlfriend because she is LITERALLY GORGEOUS STUNNING PERFCT. 

And then, Kate Martin herself responded in the comments, “she is gorgeous, stunning & perfect, I can’t lie.” Claire apparently also commented around the same time to say thank you.

Kate Martin recently graduated from the University of Iowa, where she played alongside Caitlin Clark. Claire Gransee also graduated from Iowa in May 2024, and then moved to Boston, which is in line with Caitlin’s message regarding flying from one coast to another coast. Claire majored in Communication Studies whereas Kate earned her B.A. in sports and recreation management. The two had not been publicly pictured together prior to this seeming hard launch.

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Kate Martin was selected in the second round (18th overall) by the Aces in this year’s WNBA draft, after helping to lead Iowa to its first national championship game in 2023 and their return to the contest in 2024. The Iowa head coach gave her the nickname “The Glue” because her leadership as team captain reportedly kept the team together. But now everyone calls her Kate Money Martin.

Due to her overall demeanor and fashions, many fans have long been asking “is Kate Martin gay?” and this week it seems we perhaps have our answer.

(Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Kate comes from an extremely athletic family — her father is a college football player and her older sister played basketball at Truman State. Her maternal aunt, Julie Fizpatrick, played basketball for Drake – and is now married to Iowa head coach Jan Jensen.

This is a win for the community, a win for Kate Martin, and definitely a win for Claire Gransee.

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