Toronto WNBA team introduces new butch turtle mascot with she/they pronouns
Toronto Tempo Mascot Dez (Getty Images)
The WNBA has given us many things, but their latest gift to basketball fans is a butch snapping turtle with she/they pronouns.
The Toronto Tempo unveiled its two new mascots this week, and queer fans immediately zeroed in on Dez and Dot, noticing that Dez, the snapping turtle, is listed as using she/they pronouns and, according to the lore, DJs in their spare time. Fans were also particularly curious about whether the pair are really just friends.
Dez is a “borealis blue” snapping turtle from Muskoka, Ontario, who is described as calm, clever and always thinking a few steps ahead. She’s also very clearly serving a certain kind of butch energy.
Dot, meanwhile, is an arctic hare from Toronto who uses she/her pronouns and is described as the energetic, enthusiastic “hype woman” to Dez’s more measured personality.
According to the pair’s backstory, posted on Tempo’s website in a 19 August press release, Dot followed the northern lights south to Ontario, where she met Dez. The two then discovered a “shared love of rhythm.”
Naturally, the internet began wondering whether the mascots were friends, girlfriends, or perhaps simply two fictional animals trapped in the longest queer will-they-won’t-they of the WNBA.
The Tempo has since clarified the situation, telling Them reporters that Dez and Dot are “besties.”
Dez may not be the first potentially nonbinary mascot in the league, either. Seattle Storm mascot Doppler has previously been described by members of the team as nonbinary in a November 2025 interview with Seattle Met, making the WNBA something of an unexpected pioneer in gender-diverse mascot representation.
So welcome to the league, Dez and Dot. May your “besties” status remain completely, unquestionably platonic.
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