Despite ongoing backlash from the broader Australian community, tennis great Margaret Court continues to voice her criticism of gay marriage.
Appearing on Sky News with conservative commentator Andrew Bolt on Monday, the deeply religious 74-year-old defended her recent comments that she would boycott Qantas where possible due to its stance on gay marriage by saying, “God made man for woman and woman for man … (to) go multiply the earth”.
"I think everybody has their views. I have nothing against gay people and you know we have them in our church and I help them. This is a Judeo-Christian nation and I believe we should protect marriage.”
The former world number one, who has an arena named after her in Melbourne, said that since making her views known, she has been the victim of bullying, particularly by the gay community and its supporters.
Listen: Jayson Brunsdon and Aaron Elias Brunsdon talk about their same-sex relationship and journey to become parents. Post continues...
“I think they [the gay community] always said that we were bullying them but I think there’s a lot of bullying gone on, intimidation,” Court told Bolt.
(Please excuse me while I bang my head on something for a minute.)
Court also complained about her interview with Channel 10's The Project last week, saying the panel's treatment of her was "disgusting."
“They didn’t want to hear what I had to say; all they wanted was for people to hear what they had to say," Court said.
Since making her original comments, thousands of Australians and professional tennis players from around the world, including Martina Navratilova and Richel Hogenkamp, have called for Court's name to be stripped from the iconic sporting venue.
Mamamia on Monday published an open letter to Court, written by Tamara Natt, saying she had let the gay community down.