Controversy around Margaret Court receiving Australia’s highest honour

  • Australian government has decided to award Margaret Court, a former tennis player, the country’s highest honour.  
  • She will be awarded Companion in the General Division of the Order of Australia (AC).
  • She holds the record of 24 Grand Slam singles titles.

WHY CONTROVERSY?

  • Her views on the LGBTQI (lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgenders, queers and intersex) community have rendered her an infamous figure among a large group of fans and former players.
  • She has been quite vocal about her anti-homosexual views.
  • In 2017, when the Australian government was poised to legalise same-sex marriages, in an interview, she talked about how tennis is “full of lesbians” and how transgender children were the work of “the devil.”
  • For a few years, there have been calls to have her name removed from the Margaret Court Arena – the second-largest stadium at Melbourne Park, the venue for the Australian Open.
  • Prime Minister Scott Morrison has refused to talk about the issue.

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