CARTOON BY BRIAN DOYLE
Earlier this week there were volcanic eruptions of bile on Australian Twitter accounts at the news that the “homophobic” tennis legend Margaret Court had been made a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC), the country’s highest award.
Court is one of Australia’s greatest sporting heroes. In the 1960s and 70s she won 24 Grand Slam women’s singles titles, 19 Grand Slam doubles titles, and 21 Grand Slam mixed doubles titles. After retiring from professional tennis, she found God and became a Pentecostalist pastor in Perth.
Court brought to her preaching the same vigour she displayed in her sport. She campaigned against the legalisation of same-sex marriage and has criticised homosexuality and the transgender movement. “I believe implicitly in what the Bible tells me,” she said in 2016. “I do not cherry pick to be popular. God has made his feelings clear, and they are my feelings, too.”