Australian Open Could Have Gay Rights Demonstrations

Written by: Staff on 12th January 2012

Australian Open Could Have Gay Rights Demonstrations |

Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley and Tennis Australia officials are bracing themselves for gay rights demonstrations at Melbourne Park next week following Margaret Court’s much publicized views on same sex marriages.

In recent days a ‘Rainbow Flags Over Margaret Court Arena’ campaign has gathered notable support on Facebook and Tiley is taking the threat of crowd unrest as seriously as he with past skirmishes between various ethnic groups such as Melbourne based Serbs and Croats.

‘Rainbow Flags over Margaret Court Arena’, is not condoning any use of violence but is urging tennis fans to display gay pride colors at the tournament. Tiley was forced to make a statement in the aftermath of Court stating: “Politically correct education has masterfully escorted homosexuality from behind closed doors into the community openly and now is aggressively demanding marriage rights that are not theirs to take. There is no reason to put forward alternative, unhealthy, unnatural unions as some form of substitute.”

Martina Navratilova has publicly led the backlash and Tiley said: “Margaret Court has won more grand-slam titles than any other player and has been honored for her achievements in tennis,” he said yesterday. “She is a legend of the sport. We respect that her playing career is second to none. But her personal views are her own and are not shared by Tennis Australia.

“Like the WTA Tour, we believed that everyone should be treated equally and fairly. This is a fundamental right and principle. Anyone advocating otherwise is advocating against fundamental and essential rights. And TA does not support any view that contravenes those basic human rights.”

Tiley faced up to the threat of protests on the specific arena, Melbourne Park’s third ranked court, named in honor of the 69 year-old

He said: “We will be having our usual security review as the tournament nears and obviously this is something we are aware of and will need to prepare for.”

Court, a senior pastor at a church in Perth, said the protest would do little to influence her views. “”Are they not wanting me to come to the Australian Open? Is that what they are trying to do? I don’t run from anything,” Court was quoted in The Australian newspaper.

“I have always been a champion and always loved what I do and love tennis. I think it is very sad they can bring it into that.

“It is hard that they can voice their opinions but I am not allowed to voice my opinion. There is something wrong somewhere. We live in a free society and I stand up for families between a husband and a wife. I won’t ever back down on that.”

Topics: Australian Open