Johannesburg [South Africa], May 31 : 24-time Grand Slam champion Margaret Court has made a shocking claim that "tennis is full of lesbians" and transgender children were the work of "the devil", following a row over her earlier remarks on gay marriage.
Margaret, now a Christian pastor, had earlier stirred a controversy after she announced last week that she would Qantas "where possible" in protest at the airline's support of same-sex marriage.
Since then she had been bearing the brunt of fierce criticism where players like Martina Navratilova, supported by Richel Hogenkamp, who is one of the few openly gay players in tennis, called the Australian Open to take Margaret's name off one of its flagship stadiums.
Australian Open venue Margaret Court Arena was renamed after the 11-time winner in 2003. However, the 74-year-old has vowed to keep airing her views and didn't hold back on Vision Christian Radio Station.
"I mean, tennis is full of lesbians, because even when I was playing there was only a couple there, but those couple that led took young ones into parties and things," Sport24 quoted her as saying.
"And you know, what you get at the top is often what you'll get right through that sport," he added. However, she also insisted that she was not against gay people, but wanted to help them. "We're there to help them overcome. We're not against the people," she said. "They're human beings and 92 percent, they say in America, have either been abused in some form sexually or emotionally at an early age for them to even be this way," she added.
When asked about transgender children, Court claimed their minds had been corrupted "That's all the devil..but that's what Hitler did and that's what communism did - got the mind of the children. And there's a whole plot in our nation, and in the nations of the world to get the minds of the children," she added.
World No. 1 Andy Murray has however hoped that the issue could be resolved long before next year's Australian Open.
Source: ANI
