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Margaret Court is one of the legends in the world of tennis. Her career spanned the pre-Open Era and the Open Era. She won 24 Slam titles, all throughout the 1960s and ‘70s. She is Australian, and she’s widely celebrated in Melbourne, at the Australian Open (a singles title she won 11 times). They named one of the big courts after her in Australia: a lot of female tennis players play all of their biggest Aussie Open matches on Margaret Court Arena, and Court still sits courtside for many of the biggest matches in Melbourne. Court is also tasked with handing out the women’s singles trophy most years in Melbourne.
After Court retired from tennis, she became a Pentecostal minister and formed the Margaret Court Ministries. Her church has apparently been rabidly anti-LGBTQ for years now. But it’s only in the past month that people have gotten a broader look at Court’s homophobia and bigotry. First, she picked a fight with Qantas – the airline is a supporter of marriage equality, and Court said she was going to personally boycott the company because of that. Court wrote in an open letter: “I am disappointed that Qantas has become an active promoter for same-sex marriage. I believe in marriage as a union between a man and a woman as stated in the Bible.” Eyeroll. So, there was already some muttering and side-eyes about Court. Then she absolutely unloaded all of her LGBTQ-bigotry in a radio interview a few days ago:
Court on lesbians in tennis: “Tennis is full of lesbians. Even when I was playing there were only a couple there but those couple that led took young ones into parties. And what you get at the top is often what you’ll get right through that sport.”
A word salad about marriage equality: “We know that homosexuality is a lust of the flesh, so is adultery, fornication, all those things … they too know this, this is why they want marriage, because it’s self-satisfying. I think they know it comes against Christianity, the beliefs of God, but in some way it’s justifying.”
The gay lobby: “The gay lobby is behind that bullying program in schools and children not knowing, whether they are taking out a ‘he’ or a ‘she’ and an ‘it’ and a ‘we’ or ‘they’ and if you feel like being a girl you can dress like a girl. I think, ‘what confusion for a child,’ I get confused talking about it. … There is a whole plot in our nation and in the nations of the world today to get the minds of the children.”
Hitler & the children: “God’s got so much in there about the mind how it affects us, affects our emotions, our feelings, you can think ‘oh I’m a boy’ and it’ll affect your emotions and feelings, and everything else and so that’s all the Devil. That’s what Hitler did, that’s what Communism did — got the mind of the children. And it’s a whole plot in our nation and in the nations of the world to get the minds of the children.”
[From Deadspin]
First of all, “there were only a couple there but those couple that led took young ones into parties.” Come on, if Billie Jean King or Martina Navratilova asked if you wanted to hit up the club with them, YOU WOULD GO. I would go! I bet it would be amazing to go to some of Martina and Billie Jean’s lesbian parties!!
So, yeah, obviously Margaret Court is a whackadoodle and a bigot. The Margaret Court Arena should be renamed so that this global sport can better represent tolerance and equality. The tennis world has descended on Paris for the French Open and of course all of the players have been asked about it. Martina Navratilova called Court a “racist and a homophobe” (apparently, Court had a history of supporting apartheid too). Andy Murray – who hasn’t had one day of peace since becoming world #1 – had to speak out in support of marriage equality, and he said that renaming the arena needed to sorted out immediately. Aussie #1 Sam Stosur wasn’t having any of Court’s crazy either, but Sam stopped short of saying the arena should be renamed.
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Source: celebitchy.com
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