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

[MaineDem]

1. Now that's disappointing for sure! n/t

[joeybee12]

2. She's an ass...she never cared for Billie Jean King...

Billie Jean stood up for things, I wouldn't call Court a pioneer in the sense that she fought for things, if she had her way, the women would still be playing for a $10,000 purse at Wimbledom.

Never cared for her, and I started watching tennis right when Chris came along and King and Court were still dominant...I never rooted for her against anyone. Asshole.

[tishaLA]

3. Court was hardly a pioneer for women's rights

She finally got on the Virginia Slims tour after it had already been established and never thought things like pay equity were very important. Fuck her.

And the best thing is that Court's outrageous behavior allowed BJK and Navratilova to speak out against her homophobia again and make her look as incredibly small and petty as she is.