Tennis great Margaret Court is calling
on Australian lawmakers to ignore a government survey on whether
marriage rights should be extended to gay and lesbian couples.
Court's comments come just days after
results of a national survey on marriage equality were announced. An
overwhelming majority (61.6%) of respondents voted “yes” to a
change in the law.
(Related: After
vote, Australia's Malcolm Turnbull promises marriage equality before
Christmas.)
A day after the results were announced,
a
bill that would legalize such unions was introduced in parliament.
According to the West Australian,
Court has “urged politicians who were personally opposed to
same-sex marriage to follow their conscience rather than the national
survey result.”
“We look at what's there now and they
are not listening to the conservatives or what a lot of people would
like,” she
told the paper. “They are not allowing you to speak. I don't
think I want to be with either party.”
During the campaign, Court called on
Australians to vote “no,” claiming that allowing gay couples to
marry would lead to the end of Christmas.
(Related: Margaret
Court warns that same-sex marriage will lead to the end of
Christmas.)
Martina Navratilova replied: “So
Margaret Court now says there will be no more Christmas or Easter,
nor Mother's and Father's Day in Australia, all because of Same Sex
Marriage. Au contraire Margaret – us gays love parties, especially
the boys:), and we just might have 2 Mother's days and 2 Father's
days:).”