Margaret Court, Australia's greatest
female tennis player, will not attend this year's Australian Open.
Court's opposition to same-sex marriage
sparked calls for a boycott of the Australian Open stadium named
after her. As Australia debated whether to legalize such unions,
Court became a vocal opponent.
The 75-year-old Court at first said she
would avoid Qantas airline for its support of marriage equality.
She later claimed that allowing gay and
lesbian couples to marry would lead to the end of Christmas, that
transgender children were being influenced by the Devil and that gay
people in the United States had been abused as children.
(Related: Margaret
Court warns that same-sex marriage will lead to the end of
Christmas.)
“As a former champion Margaret was
invited to the Australian Open,” tournament organizers told the
AFP. “We have been advised she will not be attending this year.”
In an interview with the Herald Sun,
Court called calls for a boycott “petty.”
“I think that is petty if they do
that and it says what's in their heart,” Court
told the paper.
She added that Australia will “pay”
for allowing gay couples to wed.
“There will be a genderless
generation,” Court said. “My thing was a marriage is between a
man and a woman.”