Tennis great Margaret Court stirred controversy at this year’s Australian Open with his vocal opposition to same-sex marriage. She was taken to task by activists on the issue and by tennis legends Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova. As the event was ending this past weekend, Navratilova, right, wrote an open letter to Court that [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Martina Navratilova’
Martina Navratilova and Billie Jean King fire back at Margaret Court’s anti-gay statements
Last week, tennis great Margaret Court lashed out against gay people and gay marriage; Her homophobia has become a lasting theme in her retirement. Out lesbians Martina Navratilova and Billie Jean King both returned fire this weekend. Navratilova told the Tennis Channel: Seems to me a lot of people have evolved as has the Bible, [...]
Moment #2: Martina Navratilova comes out
Part of Outsports’ series on our 100 most important moments in gay sports history. Tennis, 1981. You know her by one word: Martina. She is not only one of the greatest lesbian athletes of all time, not only one of the greatest tennis players of all time, not only one of the most important lesbians of [...]
Moment #12: Renee Richards wins right to play in women’s U.S. Open
Part of Outsports’ series on our 100 most important moments in gay sports history. Tennis, 1977. In 1976 the United States Tennis Association barred female transgender tennis player Renee Richards from playing as a woman in the U.S. Open. The issue at hand was a born-female rule, and the USTA said Richards would have to submit [...]
Moment #30: Athens Summer Olympics has 11 out athletes
Part of Outsports’ series on our 100 most important moments in gay sports history. Olympics, 2004. There had been the occasional out athlete at the Olympics before, but 2004 was a coming out party for Olympians. All told at least 11 openly gay athletes participated in the Olympics in the birthplace of the Games. From [...]
Moment #98: Martina Navratilova speaks at the March on Washington
Part of Outsports’ series on our 100 most important moments in gay sports history. Tennis, 1993. While she came out of the closet a decade earlier, it was 1993 that a marriage between the tennis legend and the gay community was finally consummated. Throughout 1992 Martina had spoken at length against Colorado’s Amendment 2, which stripped [...]
Martina Navratilova knew Novak Djokovic was a special tennis player
With Novak Djokovic’s explosion to the top of the world tennis rankings I went back to an interview I did with Martina Navratilova. In 2007 I asked Martina whom she would want to coach if she could coach any tennis player in the world: It would have been Novak Djokovic, but he’s in good hands [...]
The Mirror distorts reality with ‘Price gay sports stars paid for coming out’
British tabloid The Mirror published in January a short piece today on the “Price gay sports stars paid for coming out.” It’s a bizarre choice, given that I haven’t heard a negative coming-out story in sports in over 10 years. They include Martina Navratilova (who came out in 1981) and Justin Fashanu (who came out [...]
Illness halts Martina’s Kilimanjaro climb
Martina Navratilova’s attempt to climb Mount Kilimanjaro was halted when she became ill. From The Advocate: According to David Silverstein, a consultant in cardiology and internal medicine at the Nairobi Hospital, Navratilova will recover. “Basically this is fluid in the lungs related to high altitude. It is potentially dangerous when someone is at high altitude, [...]
Navratilova wins another Wimbledon title
Martina Navratilova has won another Wimbledon title, taking the Ladies’ Invitational Doubles crown. She and partner Jana Novotna beat two Americans, Tracy Austin and Kathy Rinaldi-Stunkel, in the finals, 7-5, 6-0. The invitational doubles is kind of like the seniors tour on the PGA; The competitors included other retired names like Conchita Martinez, Martina Hingis [...]
Martina Navratilova has breast cancer
Tennis great Martina Navratilova has a noninvasive form of breast cancer and will undergo radiation treatments. She called the diagnosis her “personal 9/11.” Reports the New York Times: The early form of cancer for which Navratilova is being treated is known as D.C.I.S., or ductal carcinoma in situ. It is not a tumor and is [...]
Martina embroiled in messy breakup
If you ever wanted to know the deep dark secrets of a lesbian tennis player, you may get your wish. Martina Navratilova has ended a eight-year relationship with her partner, Toni Layton, and now the partner is threatening to tell everything she knows. Navratilova apparently offered Layton $200,000 as a settlement of their affairs. That [...]