Tag Archives: Martina Navratilova

Martina Navratilova: Margaret Court’s LGBT Views Are ‘Sick’ And ‘Dangerous’

Martina Navratilova has called to rename Margaret Court Arena in Melbourne following the homophobic comments, the former Australian tennis champion turned pastor, said this week.

Court described initially slammed Qantas Airlines’ support for same-sex marriage, before saying tennis was “full of lesbians”, and that transgender children were the work of “the devil”.

The former Australian tennis champion turned pastor, also claimed that an Australian programme tackling homophobic bullying in schools was the work of a “gay lobby” that was trying to “get [into] the minds of children”.

Now Ms Navratilova, who has 18 grand slam titles, has penned a letter to the Margaret Court Arena for The Sunday Morning Herald.

She writes:

It is now clear exactly who Court is: an amazing tennis player, and a racist and a homophobe. Her vitriol is not just an opinion. She is actively trying to keep LGBT people from getting equal rights (note to Court: we are human beings, too). She is demonising trans kids and trans adults everywhere.

And now, linking LGBT to Nazis, communists, the devil? This is not OK. This is in fact sick and it is dangerous. Kids will suffer more because of this continuous bashing and stigmatising of our LGBT community.”

An online petition calling for the renaming of the court has attracted 3,700 signatures.

The retired Czech-American player, who married longtime girlfriend Julia Lemigova after proposing at the US Open, wrote:

We should not be celebrating this kind of behaviour, this kind of philosophy. The platform people like Margaret Court use needs to be made smaller, not bigger. Which is why I think it’s time to change your name. And I think the Evonne Goolagong Arena has a great ring to it. Now there is a person we can all celebrate. On every level.”

Billie Jean King has backed Navratilova’s call, as has the Dutch player Richel Hogencamp, who questioned whether players would feel comfortable competing on a court named in Court’s honour.

The Australian former world number four player Samantha Stosur suggested players might boycott the court at next year’s Australian Open.

It was not the first time Court has made incendiary comments about same-sex marriage, which is not yet legal in Australia, and homosexuality. Last week Court said she would boycott the Qantas airline over its support for same-sex marriage.

The Australian prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, waded into the row last week, rejecting the calls for the arena to be renamed.

Whatever people may think about Margaret Court’s views about gay marriage … she is one of the all-time greats and the Margaret Court Arena celebrates Margaret Court the tennis player.”

In an interview with a Christian radio station this week, Court doubled down on the comments, claiming that only a minority of the LGBTQ community wanted marriage equality and describing homosexuality as “a lust of the flesh”.

 

Court, a Christian pastor at Perth’s Victory Life church, dismissed the calls for the arena to be renamed as “bullying”.

It’s their way of bullying now because I think Australia is still Judeo-Christian,” she said, adding: “I think it’s very sad they’re using that [Margaret Court Arena] to try to hit below the belt.”

Court has also targeted the Australian player, Casey Dellacqua, who has two children in a gay relationship. In a letter after the birth of Dellacqua’s son in 2013, Court wrote of her “sadness” that the baby “has seemingly been deprived of his father”.

Tennis Ace Martina Navratilova Predicts An ‘Avalanche’ Of Gay Athletes: “Any Revolution Starts With A Small Step”

 

Tennis superstar Martina Navratilova recently wrote a piece for Sports Illustrated. In it she says the “watershed” moment for gay people in sport has been reached – and she’s hoping for an avalanche.

Martina Navratilova

Navratilova writes

We’ve come a long way. In the 1980s I knew an NHL coach who was convinced there were no gay hockey players. Ever. Certainly not on his teams. Why? “This is a macho sport,” he said. Remember Reggie White? In the ’90s, the Packers star appeared in a newspaper advertising campaign to persuade gays and lesbians that they could “cease” their homosexuality. The NFL responded with … a lot of silence.

On her own coming out, she adds

When I came out, in 1981, I didn’t have much public support and I know I lost endorsements. But I never had to worry about losing my job. In tennis, there are no bosses, no general managers and no coaches who can keep players from competing. So I was safe in that regard. For team sports athletes, this is not the case.

A homophobic coach at any level — high school, college or pros — could keep a player from playing. Remember Rene Portland, the women’s basketball coach at Penn State? She proudly boasted she would not allow a lesbian on her team. In the past, that kind of homophobia would have had support from the front office. Why come out when — apart from dealing with all the other complications — it could kill your sports career!”

Martina Navratilova

But the game is changing, more and more stars are choosing to come out, from rugby’s Gareth Thomas to football’s Casey Stoney, support from straight and gay allies is helping to pave the way for sporting to be more inclusive.

But the times changed. Boy, did they ever change.

Martina Navratilova Proposes

As Navratilova encourages:

Any revolution starts with a small step. As I see it, this one started with Vikings punter Chris Kluwe and his R-rated (but darn smart and funny) editorial on Deadspin last year. That was a catalyst because it then became clear: Straight players were standing in support of gays in general — and their gay teammates, whoever they might be.

Those gay athletes might have been deeply closeted, but there was unspoken acknowledgement: We know you exist. Kluwe wasn’t shunned or ridiculed for his stance. The tables turned. It was the homophobes who were left standing in the cold, scorned and criticized by fans and the media. How is that for a turnaround in, relatively speaking, a very short time?

noh8 Martina Navratilova

She also highlights basketball star Jason Collins for his coming out and how he has paved the way for future generations in sport.

Navratilova wrote

He is the proverbial game-changer. One of the last bastions of homophobia has been challenged. Collins’ action will save lives. This is no exaggeration: Fully one third of suicides among teenagers occur because of their sexuality.”

In 2013, the Brooklyn Nets player was the first active male athlete to come out. Since retiring, Collins has dedicated much of his time to campaigning on LGBT issues in sport.

Now that Collins has led this watershed moment, I think — and hope — there will be an avalanche. Come out, come out wherever and whoever you are. It is beautiful out here and I guarantee you this: You will never, ever want to go back. You will only wonder why it took so long.”

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Women’s Basketball Coaches and Athletes Demand LGBT Inclusiveness

For all of the fouls, steals and on-court rivalries, basketball is a sport that’s all about respect. As a teammate or an opponent you should respect and appreciate the other players on the hardwood no matter who they are.

That’s why it’s so baffling that in many sports (not just basketball), a culture of inclusiveness has not been fostered. Instead, due to a homophobic minority, societal pressures and the very real prospect of losing your job (as is the case in some USA states) LGBT players and coaches feel that they cannot be honest about themselves.

However, something needs to change. Now, in a new campaign by Br{ache the Silence, famous figures from the world of basketball have spoken up campaigning for LGBT inclusiveness in the sport.

In the some three minute video, such faces as Nikki Caldwell (Head Coach at Louisiana State University), Renee Brown (Chief of Basketball Operations, WNBA), Stephanie White (Head Coach of the Indiana Fever), Sheri Murrell (Head Coach at Portland State University), Mary Wooley (Associate Head Coach at University of Hawaii), and ESPN writer Kate Fagan are all present. Discussing their experiences within the world of basketball, they detail how they were afraid of being who they are, how it held them back and how others were reluctant to accept them just because they were queer.

Womens-basketball-01

But they aren’t just using the platform to raise awareness. Instead of just bringing the need for inclusiveness to light, BTS say that every $20 donation made to their cause will go towards LGBT training on a college level. While it might seem unusual that they aren’t just going straight to the top and training people at the professional WNBA level, this method makes good sense.

Training the coaches and athletes in college basketball automatically means that those who rise to the professional ranks will have more inclusive mind-sets. These generations of young players will be in the game for years to come and so it will be their words, thoughts and opinions that we’ll be hearing the most.

Click here to read more about the campaign.

Martina Navratilova Proposes to Her Girlfriend on the Big Screen at U.S. Open

Awww… Tennis great Martina Navratilova popped the question to Julia Lemigov on the big screen of Arthur Ashe Stadium between the U.S. Open men’s semifinals.

“I was very nervous. It came off. She said yes. It was kind of an out-of-body experience. You’ve seen people propose at sporting events before, in movies, in real life. Here it was happening to me. It was like I was watching myself do it.”

Martina Navratilova

Navratilova said somebody suggested she propose during a changeover in the first match between Kei Nishikori and Novak Djokovic, but she didn’t want to disturb the players in any way. The only problem was that Navratilova was later scheduled to play a “Champions” doubles match with Jana Novotna against Tracy Austin and Gigi Fernandez. She tried unsuccessfully to get the start postponed without telling anybody why, so she was fretting that the Nishikori-Djokovic match would go five sets. Fortunately, it ended in four.

After the triumph in her personal life, Navratilova was also victorious in doubles.

Navratilova said she and Lemigova would prefer to get married in Florida, where they live. A federal judge ruled last month that the state’s ban on gay marriage is unconstitutional, but Florida officials are appealing.

Navratilova reminisced about her 1981 U.S. Open finals loss to Austin, when the fans gave her a long ovation as the runner-up, as the first time she felt accepted as a newly minted American citizen and a gay woman. Thirty-three years later, gay couples can marry in 19 states and the District of Columbia, and Navratilova’s proposal got another big cheer from the U.S. Open crowd.

Homophobia in Sports: When Poor Sportsmanship Becomes a Problem

Martina Navratilova and Billie Jean-King blazed trails by being out sportswomen before the majority of today’s out, sports playing ladies could even say the phrase ‘gay rights’. For example, there are several members of the US Women’s National Team (USWNT) who proudly wear the ‘out lesbian’ badge next to their Olympic gold medals for football, but these are recent announcements, in part spurred on by the way that was paved before them. The women’s game – any game or sport that is, not just the ‘beautiful’ one – is, by and large, welcoming one of non-heterosexual identities. We have seen the overwhelmingly positive reaction to these stars coming out, but a majority of acceptance does not guarantee no ignorance across every sporting past-time and in the real world, with none of the societal responsibilities granted by the media’s spotlight, things can be far harsher to those who identify as non-heterosexual.

What happens when homophobia makes its way into our real life sports clubs?

We can thrash them. Up, down, left and right, just thrash them with wins until they concede and admit that the non-straight members of the club are wonderful and also wickedly good at tennis/football/whatever their chosen sport may be. Well, it’s easy enough to say that of course but winning the ignorant members into submission could be tricky. Instead, it may be easier to go over their head – is there a club manager or officer or any higher up (we’re talking the money people here) that you can talk to? If there’s one thing that gets club manager’s goats more than rainy days, it’s the threat of a loss of money and a paying customer is still a paying customer even if they happen to be a gay one.

However, if the problem is systematic, what can you do then? The answer isn’t so simple, the deeper the homophobia goes, the higher the action you should (maybe) consider taking. Specifically does your state or country have any anti-discrimination laws in place that combat against this sort of thing? Very often, experiences of homophobia will fall under these laws, especially if actual verbal abuse has been said as that could be classed as harassment, which is technically a crime.

If you’re looking for the other option, the one that ends with the homophobic person in question laughing over a drinks and coming up with new songs to yell about the opposing team, then the best option is usually to talk. Ask the right questions and be understanding that some other people might not be. It’s never your duty to make other people comfortable but sometimes, their ignorance comes from a place of misunderstanding and not hatred. But that said, if talking doesn’t work and there seems to be no other option, take it to the courts, give them a thrashing and get the hard earned victory that you deserve.

7 Lesbian Athletes Who Stood Up for Gay Rights

Here’s a list of seven openly gay women behind some of the most crucial milestones in the LGBT sports world. These women have helped challenge this sexist double standard, and show that both genders have made equal progress for LGBT rights in sports.

Billie Jean King – Tennis, USA

In 1981, the tennis star Billie Jean King became the most prominent openly gay female athlete upon revealing her relationship with her secretary, Marilyn Barnett. Unfortunately, King was unable to come out on her own terms, as a palimony lawsuit filed by Barnett brought their relationship into the public eye. However, King is now an icon in LGBT community, recently selected by President Obama to serve on the U.S. delegation to the Olympics.

Martina Navratilova – Tennis, USA

Shorty after the outing of her on-court rival Billie Jean King, Martina Navratilova followed King’s suit by revealing her sexual orientation in a column in the Dallas Morning News. Unlike King, Martina came out on her own terms, setting a precedent for many LGBT athletes to come.

Patty Sheehan – Golf, USA

Patty Sheehan is one of the most successful female golfers of all time, winning the LPGA tour on 35 occasions, including six major victories. Her golfing prowess earned her a spot in the Golf Hall of Fame, and her decision to become one of the first female golfers to come out as gay has made her an influential spokeswoman for lesbian athletes.

Sheryl Swoops – Basketball, USA

When WNBA star Sheryl Swoops became one of the first African-American female athletes to come out as gay in 2005, she was arguably the most famous athlete ever to do so in American professional sports. Swoops is a three-time WNBA MVP, one of the league’s founding players and perhaps its greatest talent. She is currently the head women’s basketball coach at Loyola University in Chicago.

Brittany Griner – Basketball, USA

The most recent openly gay female athlete in the sports world is current WNBA center Brittany Griner. Griner was perhaps the greatest female college basketball player of all time at Baylor University, where she gained notoriety from her dominant statistics and her rare ability to dunk in the women’s game. In the interview in which she publicly came out, Griner detailed the bullying she endured growing up because of her sexual orientation. She is now one of the leading advocates of anti-bullying in schools, especially when directed at the LGBT community.

Megan Rapinoe – Footbal, USA

Megan Rapinoe gained her first foray into the public spotlight following her stellar performance as a midfielder on the U.S Women’s National Footbal Team silver medal effort at the 2011 World Cup. Following the tournament, Rapinoe revealed her relationship with a fellow female soccer player to Out magazine. Her courage and advocacy for gay rights earned her a board of directors award from the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center in 2012.

Leigh-Ann Naidoo – Volleyball, South African

Naidoo was a member of the South African women’s volleyball team in the 2004 summer Olympic games. Though not a household name, Naidoo became the first African ambassador to the Gay Games, a landmark achievement for a continent not known for its progressive attitudes about gay rights.