Former Australian tennis star Margaret Court continues to create a fire with her views on homosexuality, saying that she would stop flying Quantas "whenever possible" due to the airline's support of same-sex marriage. Now she's throwing kerosene on it.
Court doubled down on her views by claiming on Wednesday that tennis is "full of lesbians" and that the devil is responsible for transgender children.
Court, 74, has accused those that have spoken out against her boycott of Qantas of bullying. The 24-time Grand Slam winner who is now a senior pastor at Perth's Victory Life church has been met with fierce opposition, including calls to take her name off of major stadiums in the Australian Open from the likes of tennis icons Martina Navratilova and Billie Jean King.
Court said in an interview with Vision Christian Radio that "tennis is full of lesbians, because even when I was playing there was only a couple there, but those couple took young ones into parties and things.
"And you know," she continued. "What you get at the top is often what you'll get right through that sport."
Court pressed on, saying that she wasn't against gay people, but rather wanted to help them.
"We're here to help them overcome, we're not against the people," she said.
Court also shared her views on transgender children. "That's all the devil," she said. "But that's what Hitler did and that's what communism did -- got the minds of the children. And there's a whole plot in our nation, and in the nations of the world to get the minds of the children."
Margaret Court Arena, the court that players have expressed frustration with her name being on, will host Grand Slam events in January. There have been murmurs that players may boycott the court if a change isn't made.
Andy Murray is hoping that it will not come to such measures. "For players to be in a position where you're in a slam and kind of boycotting playing on the court, I think that would potentially cause a lot of issues," he said. "So I think if something was going to be happening and the players can come to an agreement, if the name should be changed or whatever, that should be decided before the event."
Both Tennis Australia and Melbourne Parks, the owner of Margaret Court Arena, have denounced Court's stance, but they have not commented on plans for the arena. Presumably Court will continue to stand by her views, so this issue may begin to gain steam between players and Melbourne soon.
