Billie Jean King is the latest athlete
to speak out against Margaret Court's opposition to LGBT rights.
Seventy-four-year-old tennis great
Court, now a Christian pastor, in May announced a boycott of Qantas
over its support for marriage equality in Australia.
Court defended her views during an
interview with a Christian radio station and went on to say that
“tennis is full of lesbians” and transgender people are
influenced by the devil. Tennis legend Navratilova, who is openly
gay, responded by calling on tennis officials to rename the arena
that bears her name at Melbourne Park, home to the Australian Open.
John
McEnroe has also criticized Court.
(Related: Margaret
Court says transgender people influenced by the Devil, Tennis full of
lesbians.)
In comments last week to
ThePostGame.com, King, an American former World No. 1 professional
tennis player, disagreed with Navratilova on renaming the arena, but
said that she was disappointed with Court's comments.
“I still want her to have her name
on the court at this point, but I’m disappointed,” said
King. “Because of her tennis, she deserves it . . . I’ve
stood up for her before. So I separate those things.”
“I think it’s really important to
always have acts of kindness, love over hate, than to make judgments
on others. Do I agree with her? Absolutely not. I’m gay and I think
she’s been hurtful to our community and doesn’t really understand
us as humans first,” she added.