• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Towleroad
  • Towleroad on Social Media
  • Privacy Policy

Towleroad Gay News

Gay Blog Towleroad: More than gay news | gay men

  • Politics
  • Health
  • Travel
  • Gay Pride
  • Music
  • Sports
  • Law/Justice
  • Celebrities
  • Men
  • Space
  • Science
  • Gay Iconography
  • Madonna
  • Books
  • Monkeypox
  • Film/TV

Tennis Legend Margaret Court Boycotts Qantas for Its Support of Gay Marriage

Luis Damian Veron May 27, 2017 Leave a Comment

Margaret Court preaching

Australian tennis great Margaret Court earned 24 singles Grand Slam titles, the standing record in women’s tennis, during her career in the 1960s and ’70s, but less illustrious is her nearly as long-standing opposition to LGBT rights.

In a letter to The West Australian newspaper, Court took it upon herself to announce that she will be boycotting major Australian airline Qantas due to its on-the-record support for marriage equality in the country. Apart from its official corporate stance, the CEO of Qantas, Alan Joyce, is an openly gay man and was targeted in a pie attack by an anti-LGBT protester earlier this month. Court brought up her previous promotional work on behalf of the carrier in her statement as a contrast to her current disavowal:

“I am disappointed that Qantas has become an active promoter for same-sex marriage,” she said in a letter to The West Australian newspaper that was widely shared and discussed on social media.

“I believe in marriage as a union between a man and a woman as stated in the Bible.

“Your statement leaves me no option but to use other airlines where possible for my extensive traveling.”

Court, who in her post-tennis life has become a pastor in Perth’s Victory Life Church, has periodically made known her opposition to same-sex marriage and relations publicly, calling them “abominable” and “unhealthy,” as well as frequently claiming that being gay is a choice while endorsing the conversion therapy offered by her church. Back in 1990, she took the triumphant occasion of Martina Navratilova’s ninth and final singles Wimbledon title to proclaim the LGBT tennis star a bad role model for children due to her sexual identity.

Given this history, it should be no surprise that Navratilova herself has now suggested that the arena bearing Court’s name in Melbourne Park, where the Australian Open is played, should be renamed due to her problematic views, which have been repeatedly rejected by fellow great and fierce LGBT advocate Billie Jean King as well as tennis governing bodies Tennis Australia and the Women’s Tennis Association.

While there is no indication as yet that such a move will be taken, Australian-born British tennis player Laura Robson famously wore a rainbow hair ornament in 2012 while playing in Margaret Court Arena as a form of protest against its namesake’s rhetoric shortly after that set of aforementioned remarks were made. Other players have spoken up against this latest episode, which comes as the French Open is gearing up to begin next week:

Australian player Casey Dellacqua, who is gay, tweeted: “Margaret. Enough is enough,” alongside an image of a letter by Court in a newspaper after the birth of her first child in 2013.

The 74-year-old had written of the “sadness that I see that this baby has seemingly been deprived of his father.”

Marriage equality in Australia remains in limbo, following a previous failed parliamentary vote on the subject in 2012 and ongoing insistence by conservative Prime Minister Malcom Turnbull that nothing other than a nationwide plebiscite, which was itself voted down by lawmakers, will be brought forward by his government, even as legislative attempts persist.

Topics: Sports, towleroad More Posts About: Australia, marriage equality, Tennis

Related Posts
  • ‘Inside the Gay Prison Experiment’ — A ‘Queer Serial’ Audible Podcast — Is An Obsessed Quest For Info About The Anti-Gay Australian Govt. Campaign vs. “The Greatest Menace to Society: Homosexuality”
  • 7 Real-Life, Rom-Com-Ready Recent Queer Weddings; And A Bunch of HOT LINKS: News, Ghana, Knoxville SNL; Ireland’s Bar; Whitney’s Closet ; Ariel’s Queer
  • Kristen Stewart Engagement Going Well; Thrilled With Proposal — And Not Just Resolving ‘Who’s Going to Fulfill What Weird F****** Gender Role Thing’
  • Johnson takes responsibility but won’t quit over lockdown parties

    Johnson takes responsibility but won’t quit over lockdown parties

    Published by Reuters By Elizabeth Piper and Muvija M LONDON (Reuters) -A “humbled” Boris Johnson said he took full responsibility but would not quit after a damning official report on Wednesday detailed a series of illegal …Read More »
  • Exclusive: Biden moves to fill key appellate seat vacated by U.S. Supreme Court’s Jackson

    Exclusive: Biden moves to fill key appellate seat vacated by U.S. Supreme Court’s Jackson

    Published by Reuters By Nate Raymond (Reuters) – President Joe Biden on Wednesday nominated three women to serve as appellate judges including Florence Pan, who would succeed U.S. Supreme Court-designate Ketanji Brown Jackson on the influential …Read More »
  • Monkeypox vaccine producer says enough supplies are available

    Monkeypox vaccine producer says enough supplies are available

    Published by DPA An illustration photo shows a medical syringe with the word Monkeypox virus in the background. Sufficient supplies of the Imvanex vaccine against monkeypox are available to handle the current outbreak, the producer of …Read More »
  • LGBTQ Community Urges Viewers To Boycott Controversial Comic Ricky Gervais After ‘Anti-Trans’ Jokes

    LGBTQ Community Urges Viewers To Boycott Controversial Comic Ricky Gervais After ‘Anti-Trans’ Jokes

    Published by Radar Online PTNY/©2013 RAMEY PHOTO Ricky Gervais sparked backlash for anti-trans jokes in his new Netflix comedy special, leaving some members of the LGBTQ community outraged. The controversial comic, 60, became a hot topic …Read More »
Previous Post: « It’s A Crew ‘Paul’s Drag Race’ Makeover Challenge [RECAP]
Next Post: White House Excludes Gay First Spouse from NATO Photo Caption »

Primary Sidebar

News

  • Georgia rebukes Trump over US voter fraud ‘Big Lie’

    Georgia rebukes Trump over US voter fraud ‘Big Lie’

  • Nike halts sales to retailers in Russia

    Nike halts sales to retailers in Russia

  • Shunned! Caitlyn Jenner Denied Invite To Kardashian-Barker Wedding In Italy

    Shunned! Caitlyn Jenner Denied Invite To Kardashian-Barker Wedding In Italy

  • Paranoid Putin! Russian Leader Promotes Bodyguard To Minister Following Predecessor’s Sudden & Mysterious Death

    Paranoid Putin! Russian Leader Promotes Bodyguard To Minister Following Predecessor’s Sudden & Mysterious Death

Break

  • Dyson set to preview new robots to help with tasks at home

    Dyson set to preview new robots to help with tasks at home

  • Elvis fever set to shake Cannes

    Elvis fever set to shake Cannes

  • Battle Of The Billionaires! Elon Musk SLAMS Bill Gates After Article Claims Microsoft Mogul Is Funding Musk’s Critics

    Battle Of The Billionaires! Elon Musk SLAMS Bill Gates After Article Claims Microsoft Mogul Is Funding Musk’s Critics

  • Paula Abdul planning ‘spectacular’ 60th birthday bash

    Paula Abdul planning ‘spectacular’ 60th birthday bash

RSS Partner Links

  • Fleshback: Tom Of Finland
  • OMG, LISTEN TO THIS: Kelly Clarkson drops her cover of Billie Eilish’ ‘Happier Than You’
  • OMG, Heartstopper’s Kit Connor: “I’m comfortable in my sexuality & don’t need to label myself publicly”
  • Leslie Jordan shares funny memories of his mother, Peggy Ann, who passed away at age 86
  • Naked Anime + NYC Shooter Turns Himself In + Texas Shooter Had Body Armor + History's Evil Twinks + MORE! — 12-PACK
  • Birthday Sluts
  • Song of the Day: 'I Belong in Your Arms' by Chairlift
  • Page 1 Roundup (05/25)
  • Weekend Tennis Roundup

Most Recent

  • New York City removes last public phone booth

    New York City removes last public phone booth

  • Johnson takes responsibility but won’t quit over lockdown parties

    Johnson takes responsibility but won’t quit over lockdown parties

  • Exclusive: Biden moves to fill key appellate seat vacated by U.S. Supreme Court’s Jackson

    Exclusive: Biden moves to fill key appellate seat vacated by U.S. Supreme Court’s Jackson

  • Monkeypox vaccine producer says enough supplies are available

    Monkeypox vaccine producer says enough supplies are available

  • LGBTQ Community Urges Viewers To Boycott Controversial Comic Ricky Gervais After ‘Anti-Trans’ Jokes

    LGBTQ Community Urges Viewers To Boycott Controversial Comic Ricky Gervais After ‘Anti-Trans’ Jokes

  • NC Republicans push ban on teachers discussing LGBTQ issues, other rules for schools

    NC Republicans push ban on teachers discussing LGBTQ issues, other rules for schools

  • Bad Bunny refuses to give clothes a gender

    Bad Bunny refuses to give clothes a gender

Most Commented

Social

Twitter @tlrd | Facebook | Instagram @tlrd
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Towleroad
  • Towleroad on Social Media
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2022 · Log in