Marriage Equality Passed; Now Margaret Court Won't Attend Australian Open

Although she is the namesake of the venue where the Australian Open will run January 15-28, tennis champion and renowned homophobe Margaret Court has chosen to go crabbing during the event at Margaret Court Arena in Melbourne, according to The Herald Sun. She maintained, however, that her move to steer clear of the first big Grand Slam of the year that takes place at the arena named after her had nothing to do with the backlash she's received from her intense opposition to marriage equality, which passed in Australia in December.

"I don't run from things, I face them," Court said of accusations that she was avoiding the Australian Open due to controversy. "I decided not to come across this year and do more crabbing."

Court, who is depicted in the Golden Globe-nominated film Battle of the Sexes that tells the story of Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs's famous 1973 match and of King's first love affair with a woman, has a long history of homophobia that has put her at odds with the majority of Australians, 7.8 million of whom voted in favor of Parliament passing marriage equality in a mail-in ballot this November.

Prior to the mail-in vote, Court, who is now a Pentecostal minister, spoke out against equality, saying, "They want marriage because they want to destroy it. There will be no Mother's Day, there will be no Father's Day, there will be no Easter, there will be no Christmas."

Following the vote, after which Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said that the people had spoken and that he would make marriage equality "the law of the land by Christmas," Court threatened to break ties with Turnbull's Liberal Party (which is actually conservative), of which she's been a member of for 50 years.

While Court insisted that her decision to catch crabs rather than attend the Australian Open had nothing to do with her being out of touch with the majority of Australians, she had plenty to say about the landmark vote for equality.

"I think there will be a price to pay for it in the future in the nation and people will see it's not about marriage," Court said. "There will be a genderless generation.

Some tennis players, dismayed that a move to change the name of Margaret Court Arena after she threatened to boycott Qantas because of its support for equality last year didn't take root, threatened to steer clear of Australian Open if it were held there, which spurred a reaction from Court.

"I think that is petty if they do that and it says what's in their heart," she said, according to The Australian. "I think that's very childish -- but that's not up to me and it doesn't affect me."