MOHEGAN — Stefanie Dolson never intended to keep her sexual orientation a secret and never really even thought it was a big deal.

“She’s been open with her teammates for a long time,” Washington Mystics coach Mike Thibault said.

Today, the former UConn star and WNBA All-Star player will come out publicly in print that she is a lesbian athlete.

Although it has been out on the web for almost two weeks on ESPN.com, the ESPN The Magazine article about Dolson hits newsstands today.

“I don’t really see it as an announcement,” Dolson said prior to the Mystics’ game with the Connecticut Sun on Saturday. “It was mainly just to get out that the WNBA, as a league, is supportive of who we are as women. That’s why our fans are so great. They support us, too. I’m just glad that I’m happy.”

Dolson said ESPN approached her about doing the story after seeing her Instagram pictures of her kissing her partner. Posting the picture was a no-brainer, according to Dolson.

“I didn’t even think about it when I posted the picture,” Dolson said. “It was just posting a picture of two people, really happy, that’s all.”

Doing an article and letting the nation into her wild and wonderful world took just a little bit of thought.

“Not everyone needs to be public, but I’m a pretty public person so why not let the fans into who I am?” Dolson said.

Connecticut Sun coach Curt Miller came out publicly that he was gay on the day he was hired by the team.

“When you see certain people (come out publicly), it makes you feel more comfortable about it, makes it a little easier to express yourself. I’ve always been able to express myself, but having people support you in the locker room and my family supporting everything and accepting it makes it easier,” Dolson said.

In the past, mouths may have dropped and eyes may have rolled.

For the most part, Dolson said the reaction has been positive, although she admits there has been some negative.

“Everyone has opinions,” Dolson said.

But there were a lot of OK’s, too, in the manner of does this really matter any longer?

“I hope so, sooner than later (when something like this is no longer a story),” Thibault said. “It’s way less so than it was five or 10 years ago, but I just hope that we don’t have to have people speculating. Who cares?”

Dolson feels society, in general, has taken big steps forward in accepting people as who they are and letting them live their lives with whomever they choose.

“It was mainly to be a role model for the younger girls,” Dolson said. “They don’t know what is going on in the world right now. I think they will grow up and be an even better generation than ours for accepting people for who they are.”

That may be true for WNBA locker rooms, but the male athletic community still has its problems with such acceptance.

“There’s such a macho image in the male locker room. It’s diminished, but it’s still there some. I think there are more and more male athletes who would be accepting, but I just think society is harder that way,” Thibault said.

Dolson said she’s willing to help be a spokesman for the LGBT community within the WNBA. That will likely happen anyway as Washington makes its first tour of the league’s cities and the Dolson announcement is still fresh in everyone’s minds.

“I don’t know if guts is the right word,” Thibault said of Dolson’s willingness to put herself into the spotlight. “Stef has always been who she is. She’s proud of herself as a human being and as an athlete. She was like that as a student. I’ve always liked her just because she’s Stef. She doesn’t try to be anything else.”