In a new interview with HBO's Real
Sports with Bryant Gumbel, Australian tennis legend Margaret
Court claims that she's “getting bullied by gays.”
Court's opposition to same-sex marriage
sparked calls for a boycott of the Australian Open stadium named
after her. As Australia debated whether to legalize such unions,
Court became a vocal opponent.
The 75-year-old Court at first said she
would avoid Qantas airline for its support of marriage equality.
She later claimed that allowing gay and
lesbian couples to marry would lead to the end of Christmas, that
transgender children were being influenced by the Devil and that gay
people in the United States had been abused as children.
(Related: Margaret
Court warns that same-sex marriage will lead to the end of
Christmas.)
Real Sports' segment included a
look at the work Court does as a Pentecostal pastor.
“She serves the community,”
sportscaster Mary Carillo said. “She gets out a couple dozen tons
of food a week to 650 families. She is there to serve the homeless,
the addicted. She does an incredible amount of good work. But what
she's become known for more than anything in recent years are her
very public stances on homosexuality and transgender issues.”
In the piece, Court reiterates her
opposition to marriage equality and insists that being LGBT is a
choice. She added that people can train their brains not to be gay.
“It's a choice in life. They haven't
proven that they're born like that,” Court said.
“Martina [Navratilova] just feels
like [saying being LGBT is a choice] can create so much damage and
invalidates so many things and creates so much bullying,” Carillo
replied, referring to tennis legend Martina Navratilova, who is in a
same-sex marriage.
(Related: Martina
Navratilova says marriage to Julia Lemigova has changed her life.)
“I'm getting bullied by gays, by this
whole fierce gay movement. I'm just going by what the Bible says and
that's a sin,” Court
responded.