© Photo by Vince Caligiuri/Getty Images Margaret Court at the Australian Open in January.
Margaret Court at the Australian Open in January.
Photo by Vince Caligiuri/Getty Images
Australian tennis great goes off on LGBT people.
Australian tennis legend and now practicing homophobe Margaret Court complained that women’s tennis is “full of lesbians” and compared gay people to Hitler and the devil.
Court, 74, managed to dredge up every possible insult to LGBT people in a radio interview with a Christian website. Hat tip to Deadspin for transcribing her ramblings:
This:
“Tennis is full of lesbians. Even when I was playing there were only a couple there but those couple that led took young ones into parties. And what you get at the top is often what you’ll get right through that sport.”
This:
“The gay lobby is behind that bullying program in schools and children not knowing, whether they are taking out a ‘he’ or a ‘she’ and an ‘it’ and a ‘we’ or ‘they’ and if you feel like being a girl you can dress like a girl. I think, ‘what confusion for a child,’ I get confused talking about it. ... There is a whole plot in our nation and in the nations of the world today to get the minds of the children.”
And this:
“Your thoughts — even medically they’re knowing now — the mind is a battlefield and that’s why I wrote that book “Train Your Brain” because the mind is, it’s all in the Bible.
"God’s got so much in there about the mind how it affects us, affects our emotions, our feelings, you can think ‘oh I’m a boy’ and it’ll affect your emotions and feelings, and everything else and so that’s all the Devil.
“That’s what Hitler did, that’s what Communism did — got the mind of the children. And it’s a whole plot in our nation and in the nations of the world to get the minds of the children.”
For these views and others she has made condemning same-sex marriage, Court has been criticized by current players — including two openly gay women’s players — and there is talk about taking her name off the main court at the Australian Open.
Of course, Court says such an action amounts to bullying, while saying she has “nothing against homosexuals.” Nothing except likening us to devils and one of the greatest mass murderers ever. In the same radio interview, she said LGBT people in the U.S.: "92 per cent were abused sexually or emotionally when they were young even to be this way.”
Current players, fortunately, are not accepting what Court sells. Andy Murray, at the French Open, said:
"I don't see why anyone has a problem with two people who love each other getting married. You know, if it's two men, two women, that's great. I don't see why it should matter. It's not anyone else's business. Everyone should have, in my opinion, should have the same rights. That's my view on it."
American Madison Keys said she disagreed totally with Court’s opposition to same-sex marriage, adding "I kind of agree with maybe having the [Australian Open stadium's] name changed and all of that. If that comes up, I'm sure there's many people who would be for that.
"It's like, 'Why can't we just be nice to each other?' So frustrating."