Margaret Court: Legendary tennis champ, women's rights pioneer ..... and homophobe

[marmar]

from ESPN W:



In the world of tennis, Margaret Court's voice booms like a megaphone.

A first-ballot Hall of Famer, Court won a record 24 Grand Slam singles titles and 62 majors in an era in which few women were gaining public acclaim for achievement in sports. During her career (1959-77), she played Billie Jean King in five Grand Slam finals, losing only once, and twice defeated up-and-comer Martina Navratilova. Court's home country, Australia, put her image on a stamp in 2003, the same year Melbourne Park, home of the Australian Open, renamed one of its show courts Margaret Court Arena.

......(snip)......

She doesn't approve of gay rights. Not one bit.

"No amount of legislation or political point-scoring can ever take out of the human heart the knowledge that in the beginning God created them male and female and provided each with a unique sexual function to bring forth new life," Court told The West Australian newspaper in an interview last month. "To dismantle this sole definition of marriage and try to legitimize what God calls abominable sexual practices that include sodomy, reveals our ignorance as to the ills that come when society is forced to accept law that violates their very own God-given nature of what is right and what is wrong.
"The fact that the homosexual cry is, 'We can't help it, as we were born this way,' as the cause behind their own personal choice is cause for concern." ...................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://espn.go.com/espnw/commentary/7484461/the-disappointing-irony-margaret-court-comments-espnw

[CurtEastPoint]

1. Here's why: She's a pastor at the Victory Life Centre, a Pentecostal church in Perth, Australia.

[Sera_Bellum]

2. She really is not a sister

to a sport that has so many lesbian athletes. watching the Australian Open this week I cringe when they show the scheduled pairing on Margaret Court stadium.

She may still be stinging from losing to Bobby Riggs? Billie Jean King taught him a lesson though eh?