If you ask Valkyries vice president of marketing Andrea Fernandes, every night at Ballhalla is Pride Night.

There is evidence to suggest that is true.

Friday’s Valkyries win against the Atlanta Dream was the team’s official Pride Night, their second annual event and what team president Jess Smith hopes is the “kick off” for the weekend’s celebration.

After a season-and-a-half, the Bay Area’s WNBA team has become irremovable from the genesis of the queer community. That’s something the organization tied to its identity from the start.

“It’s something where I feel like connecting to the community in a bigger way is just something that's like, it's so woven within the fabric of our community,” Fernandes said. “It's just so important to show up for those who support us.”

While Pride Night scandals have rocked men’s sports teams — even locally — the WNBA has historically been a safe space. Even while the WNBA’s surging popularity has led to room for some less inclusive rhetoric, the Valkyries have fully embraced being the center of many queer spaces.

Chase Center has become a gathering place for many queer folks who had never considered being a sports fan.

“There's an opportunity that a lot of women's sports have where already being part of a marginalized group,” said Valkyries fan Liz Paiva. “It's the people that within that group that are further marginalized for various reasons get to sort of say, well, if we're not in the spotlight, then we get to be ourselves here…. The celebration of who we are is just baked into it.”

Smith noted that several Valkyries players are out and that has been an important factor in how the team presents itself to the public, wanting to represent off the court who they are on it.

“We're all about inclusivity,” Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase said. “I love it. I love the fact that people can feel their authentic self here, and we welcome everyone. Sometimes, too, when I get a peek in a second, I'll look around at Ballhalla, and I just see all the love, and I think the new people that are making either friendships or new family members literally just by coming together and just feeling super inclusive. So, I love the fact that we take super intentional steps to make everyone feel welcome.”

Gabby Williams scored 13 points in the fourth quarter on Friday and in her postgame on-court interviews said they “couldn’t lose on Pride night.”

“I take Pride Night personal,” she said. “I mean, this game is probably like the one that everyone has circled on their calendar. The Bay Area's just historically just been a pioneer for Pride movement, and so I just wanted to get it for the gays.”

The WNBA and women’s basketball as a whole have always had a prominent queer fanbase even before it became a more mainstream sport. The Valkyries became a $1 billion franchise after just one season, and Valkyries president Jess Smith said they recognize the LGBT audience as a big reason why.

“I think the beauty is nights like tonight allow us to celebrate part of our audience in a very heightened way with real representation,” Smith said. “It's the person sitting next to you sometimes in the seats, and today it happens to be the person performing at halftime.”

On Friday, 2012 RuPaul’s Drag Race winner and noted Gabby Williams fan Sasha Colby was on the court alongside Violet and about 75 season ticket holders donned in rainbows and frills for a dueling DJ dance party.

“Nothing beats a Valks crowd,” Colby said, even noting she is a Seattle Storm season ticket holder. “Here at Pride (night), having everybody just be joyful and just so happy, just dancing on that on that hardwood floor, it's amazing, you can feel the queer power.”

It’s difficult to get into a queer space in San Francisco without seeing the Valkyries logo now. That’s partially the team’s push to reach a queer audience, but it’s also an authentic welcome to the WNBA team as a new part of the fabric of queerness in the Bay Area.

“The LGBTQ audience is endemic to the Bay Area, it's the fabric of the Bay Area, and I think that the WNBA, in general, has always been a safe space, an inclusive space for everyone, especially the queer community,” Fernandes said. “You plug that in with the Bay Area, and you have just a space where everyone is feels welcome and comfortable, and is celebrated”

The Valkyries, like any other sports franchise, financially benefit from selling pride merchandise and advertising to any subsection of their audience. When there are some leagues, teams or players, though, that openly resist celebrating or accepting queerness, an explicit demonstration of inclusion meant something to fans on Friday.

“(The queer community) has been incredible supporters of the W, even before the Valkyries existed,” Smith said. “But also they've been citizens of the Bay and citizens of the world, and that's bigger than basketball too. We just happen to now be a basketball team that gets to welcome them into this environment and have a platform.”