Maragret Court, one of the greatest tennis players of all time, was slammed by activists, fellow tennis players and blogs like this one last month when she announced same-sex marriages were “unhealthy, unnatural unions” in an interview with the West Australian.
Lesbian tennis champs Billie Jean King, Martina Navratilova and Rennae Stubbs all denounced Court—a minister at Perth’s Victory Life Church—for her bilious rant. (Good on you, ladies!)
But now Court is playing the victim, claiming her views don’t reflect any hatred.
What views are those? In her interview she stated:
How about we take this to the next level?
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“To dismantle this sole definition of marriage and try to legitimize what God calls abominable sexual practices that include sodomy, reveals our ignorance as to the ills that come when society is forced to accept law that violates their very own God-given nature of what is right and what is wrong.”
How could anyone interpret that as hateful, we ask you?
Court was interviewed in New York Times on Wednesday, less that two weeks before the Australian Open begins on January 16 (and if you think the timing is coincidental, it’s not). She said the outrage against her was “sad.”
There was some controversy recently about an article here that got some negative responses in the United States, from Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova. What were your thoughts on that feedback? Were you surprised?
I think it was… sad, because there was nothing quoted in the press that was here that related to any tennis player. And I remember, probably 10, 12 years ago, I spoke with Martina Navratilova. To say that I “hate” homosexuals and lesbians is not [accurate] because we have them in our church. I work with them. And I remember saying to Martina: “Martina, I love you. God loves you. But a wrong doesn’t make a right.” And I said that I look at the younger generation. So I think that it was very sad, the reaction from them, the hate side. There’s no way—I’ve never ever said that in my life, in any print, in any press thing. It was sad, for that reaction…
There has been talk of possible protests at the Australian Open, possibly in or near the court that bears your name, Margaret Court Arena. What would be your thoughts if that were to happen?
Well, I think it’s very sad because I think they’ve taken it in the wrong way. I mean, I make a stand for both my biblical side, and what I believe. And I think — it’s a choice. And I think there’s young people today that need to know it’s a choice in life. And that was my side of it, bringing that forth. I’ve got nothing against the people themselves, I’ve always said that all the years I’ve been a minister.
Oh Margie—may we call you Margie?—you’re forgetting your Bible: In 1 John 3:17, it states “Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.” In other words, you can say your don’t hate us, but your actions speak louder.
Court says she will go to the Open, so if any Queerty readers see her there please bitchslap her for us. Then tell her you don’t have anything against her as a person.
Isaac C
I don’t think she hates gays. She is going by what her religious beliefs tell her. That’s not the same as hatred. What it is, is bigotry.
JKB
And just because I think she is a C U next Tuesday doesn’t mean I hate cats.
Marcus
I’m over giving a damn what dumb brainwashed bitches with no influence on anyone under 30 think, to be quite honest.
Spike
“God says . . . ”
Just another member of the Christian Taliban hiding behind their religious beliefs while pushing hate and intolerance.
Very convenient to have a completely fictional deity that you can quote at will without any further need to document or legitimize the statements.
Dan Cobb
She’s just jealous that they allowed lesbians to play in tennis tournaments. It totally killed her career.
Mike
@Marcus: Let’s be real and go with anyone under 50.
Dan Cobb
If the Bible is the source of your hateful statments, then you’re not being hateful,
apparently. This woman has the same lost-in-the-headlights look that Victoria Principle
has. Complete airheads, and without a single rational brain cell in their minds. People
like her are our cross to bear.
christopher di spirito
I hope the old hag chokes on a tennis racket.
PTBoat
It’s the “love” of the Inquisition, pure and simple. That kind of “love” didn’t work out so well for those who were tortured or slaughtered in the receipt of it.
Cam
@Isaac C: said…
“I don’t think she hates gays. She is going by what her religious beliefs tell her. That’s not the same as hatred. What it is, is bigotry.”
__________________
Unless she goes by everything that her religion tells here, then it IS hatred. She is singling out one small thing from her religion but ignoring huge amounts of other areas. She is doing this because she hates gays and her religion is her excuse.
As for HER comment. If a person called a minority abominable, or called women abominable and then claimed to not hate them nobody would believe that.
Kylew
“I think it was… sad, because there was nothing quoted in the press that was here that related to any tennis player.”
Yeah – that’s like saying all women are whores, then whining when any specific woman takes offence.
“To say that I “hate” homosexuals and lesbians is not [accurate] because we have them in our church. I work with them.”
Yeah, just Hitler “worked” with the Jews. Poor bastards.
“So I think that it was very sad, the reaction from them, the hate side.”
Yeah, funny how people get all heated about being told that the way that they live their lives is an abomination.
“And that was my side of it, bringing that forth. I’ve got nothing against the people themselves, I’ve always said that all the years I’ve been a minister.”
Could she be any more condescending?
Is it me, or are there more of these people coming out of the woodwork? I don’t know if they are feeling emboldened to be bigots in public, or if they sense that their days are numbered, so they’re getting their digs in whilst hate speech is still legal.
Personally, I’m glad because misguided extremists like this only serve to steer moderates away from their side.
Marie Cohn
She’s the Marcus Bachmann of Australian tennis players.
MikeE
Why don’t people just CONFRONT these religious idiots with their lies drawn from the Bible?
When she says “what God calls abominable”, demand that she show the exact spot where God says that in the Bible. But hand her an Aramaic copy. Or a Greek one.
And when she can’t, CONFRONT her and point out that she’s LYING.
And that THAT is one thing you can clearly demonstrate IS an abomination before God in the Bible, regardless of language.
the crustybastard
Old Testament “Jealous” God says to crush gay abominations with stones.
New Testament “Loving” God says to treat gays like you’d treat Jesus.
I guess you’ve got to decide whether you follow Jealous God or Loving God; because its unlikely they’re the same god — but if they are, God has evidently reconsidered Its earlier position (and so should you).
Jason
Clearly someone who’s hoo-ha has never been eaten out because of its abominable stench.
MikeE
@the crustybastard: please supply verse number etc. for your statement.
and the original Aramaic text with annotations.
because NONE of what you wrote is in the original text of the Bible.
Robert in NYC
Of course she hates gays. Saying she doesn’t but hates that we “choose” to engage in sexual acts is just a lame excuse to get her off the hook. Notice it’s always a religious wacko saying this stuff or people connected to religion, such as the ex-gay bull shit ministries and other hate organizations such as NOM et al. Most of them are hypocrites cherry picking specific verses to support their beliefs. That said, I doubt if she adheres to the following biblical reference:
Timothy 2:12
New International Version (NIV)
12 “I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man;[a] she must be quiet.”
Proof she’s a hypocrite.
Matt
She’s just a bitter closeted lesbian.
TASTEY GOODIES
SHE LOOKS LIKE M2F SURGERY WENT WRONG. EWWWWWW!
the crustybastard
@MikeE:
A. I’m not your fucking research assistant. Look it up yourself.
B. OT wasn’t written in Aramaic.
Kylew
@the crustybastard: Lol – you crusty old bastard! 🙂
Mike: I’ll do it for you
Leviticus 18:22
Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.
Leviticus 20:13
If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.
Mark 12:31
And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
Interestingly, this was actually first espoused in Leviticus in the OLD testament, but the message obviously got lost amidst all the revenge killings, the murder of children, and the wiping out of entire towns.
SparktheTruth
Unfortunately, nowhere in the bible were instructions given in dealing with the ignorant, nor the hypocritical.
Just imagine what our would would be like if we had access to those truths? imagine our governments? imagine our religious institutions?
The mysteries that might be revealed , Chaney = The antiChrist ? Bush not the puppet just The Ass…..
MikeE
@Kylew: the problem with Leviticus is, it doesn’t actually have anything to do with homosexuality.
it also isn’t a “rule from God”. It’s a cleanliness code for the priests of the temple. it does not apply to us, nor technically to the Jews who were NOT priests of the temple at that time.
A homosexual man does not lie with another man, as he would with a woman. he lies with a man as he would lie with a man. the whole point is, homosexuality did not exist as a concept at the time. the people who wrote the old testament had no conception of two people of the same sex wanting to live together as a couple.
Add to that, that “spilling seed” was considered an act of murder. They thought that semen contained the entirety of what became a human being. They thought of women as nothing more than incubators for the man’s seed.
So you now understand that admonition, and also why it doesn’t apply to anyone other than “priests of the temple”. Anyone who uses Leviticus as a source for anti-gay rhetoric is breaking one of the 10 Commandments, which DO apply to everyone (who is a believer). “Thou shalt not bear false witness”.
By the way, “abomination” doesn’t mean the same thing in Hebrew or Aramaic (yes, parts of the old testament WERE written in Aramaic. do your own fucking research) as it does in English.
MikeE
@Kylew: and sorry, that was meant to be a response to Crusty old fart.
the crustybastard
@MikeE:
Yes, a tiny handful of chapters of Ezra, Daniel and Jeremiah were originally written in Aramaic — constituting an almost vanishingly small percentage of the OT as a whole.
However, the relevant antigay shit is in the Noahide Laws, Deuteronomy and Leviticus, which were indeed written in Hebrew.
But thanks for the pedantic lecture, numbnuts. You probably learned that shit from something I’d written elsewhere. LOL.
MikeE
@the crustybastard: No, I definitely did not learn that from you, I’m sorry to shatter your grossly inflated ego.
I’ve known most of that information for over 30 years.
Isaac C
@Cam: I don’t agree with you. How do we know how she lives her religious life, and what she believes about other issues? She’s just a bigot. Hating requires some negative passion that I don’t think she has toward gays.
booth
I always wonder about people who claim it’s a choice. If that is indeed the case for her, then she must have “chosen” to identify as heterosexual…while supressing her homosexual impulses. Beware of mean and hateful closet cases.
Kylew
@booth: Yes, it is implicit in suggesting that there was a choice, that they are actually bisexual or homosexual, simply choosing to have heterosexual sex. Does that mean that in their heads they are still lusting after both sexes?
Dr George
Yet another Australian “sports star” who is given press despite knowing fuck all about the topic and already so far her used by date.
Either she is doing the christian talk circuit or has a book on the boil.
Drinking the same coolaid as Tim Tebow?