Court out: Calls to drop tennis great's name from arena 'wrong'
There are calls to rename the Margaret Court Arena after the Australian tennis great for which it is named came out publicly against gay marriage.
But the call to drop Court's name from the sporting arena has been called out of bounds by some Australian commentators who spoke on Seven's Sunrise.
Now a reverend of the Victory Life Church in Perth, Court has written a letter to a West Australian newspaper restating her views on marriage equality.
Court, 74, reaffirmed her views that marriage should be between a man and a woman, adding she will be boycotting Qantas wherever possible because of the airline's active role in trying to change the Australian Marriage Act.
Tennis Australia and management of the eponymous stadium also criticised Court's comments, saying they are not in line with their views on marriage equality.
Czech-American tennis great Martina Navratilova joined a chorus of musical acts who returned criticism, suggesting her name should be dropped from the Melbourne sporting arena.
"Maybe it's time to change of the Margaret Court Arena then," tweeted Navratilova, winner of 18 Grand Slam singles titles.
Navratilova later followed with a tweet saying: "Margaret – you have gone too far. Shame on you ... #wrongsideofhistory".
Navratilova and fellow tennis great Billie Jean King, who are both gay, have come out previously against Court's conservative views on homosexuality.
Speaking on Sunrise on Friday morning, Herald Sun columnist Susie O'Brien and 2GB and 4BC radio host Chris Smith both said while they disagreed with Court's stance on marriage equality, speaking her mind did not warrant a name drop.
"It is wrong. Just because she is expressing views that most of us find divisive, wrong, abhorrent [how] she's coming out about this does not matter, it should not be taken away from her," O'Brien said.
"What happens if she changes her mind?
"A lot of people later in life come into contact with someone, someone in their family comes out as gay and they [change] 180 degrees. This might happen with her. We can't allow the political views to take this away from her," the Melbourne columnist said.
Shock jock Smith said while he did not agree with what Court said, he agreed she had a right to say it while disagreeing with O'Brien's point the opinion was "abhorrent".
"What she's saying is based on her religious beliefs which are strong, fervent and based on her understanding of the Bible," he said.
"We should be allowed to have an opinion like this. I am not on her side either but I defend her being able to say what she says.
"She sent one letter to express her views based on her understanding of Christianity. That is not bad."
For more 'Hot Topic' discussions, tune in to Sunrise from 5am on weekdays.
