Margaret Court Defends Israel Folau's Anti-Gay Comments
- By
- On Top Magazine Staff
- | April 19, 2019
Tennis great Margaret Court has come to Israel Folau's defense.
Folau's rugby career hangs in the balance after he posted a series of homophobic posts on social media.
The 30-year-old Folau shared an image on Instagram which read: “Warning Drunks, Homosexuals, Adulterers, Liars, Fornicators, Thieves, Atheists, Idolaters: Hell Awaits You. Repent! Only Jesus Saves.”
In the image's caption, the Wallabies superstar wrote: “Jesus Christ loves you and is giving you time to turn away from your sin and come to him.”
Roughly a year ago, Folau posted a meme on Instagram about God's plan. When a follower asked, “What was God's plan for gay people?” Folau replied: “HELL.. Unless they repent of their sins and turn to God.”
“That's something that comes truly from the bottom of my heart,” he later said.
Margaret Court, who became a Christian minister after retiring from the tennis circuit, claimed that Folau was being “persecuted” for quoting “straight out of the Bible.”
"I was on the highway to hell when I was number one in the world in tennis and reached out to Christ," Court told The Australian. “I understand why Israel is doing this: you want everybody to know Christ and under it all there is a great love for your nation and you want people to know what you have received.”
"That means drug addicts, gays, alcoholics: they all come to my church and I love them and I'm sure Israel loves them too. What he is saying about repenting is straight out of the Bible. My heart goes out to him because he's being persecuted,” she said.
Court, a vocal opponent of LGBT rights, has previously said that same-sex marriage will lead to the end of Christmas.
(Related: Margaret Court says she's “getting bullied by gays.”)