Picture this:
Person A takes a stand on an issue. Person B opposes that stand and declares a boycott of that person's business. People come out in support of Person A and declare a boycott of Person B. Person B claims this boycott is bullying ... pot/kettle, Person B?
Person B then launches a vitriolic attack on the people who Person A supports. Those people then attack Person B's vitriolic views. Person B again claims this is bullying because they dared to criticise her vitriol.
Break this down:
Person B bullies Person A with a boycott and criticism,
Person B bullies people Person A supports,
BUT when people criticise her or boycott her, she claims she is being bullied.
This is very typical of the snowflake right-wing.
In case you haven't worked this out, Person A is Alan Joyce, CEO of Qantas. The people he supports are the LGBTIQ community in their desire to marry. Person B is one of Australia's greatest tennis champions, Margaret Court. It is the arena named after her, that people have called on to be boycotted or renamed after Court's vitriolic attack on the LGBTIQ community in which she declared they were the product of the devil and other such lovely things.
On Friday, 26 May 2017, Court appeared on Network 10's show The Project (1). Court's supporters heavily criticised The Project because of their approach to her, talking over her and attacking her views. The Project was accused of bullying. Interestingly, the next day Court appeared on Andrew Bolt's show, a man who takes a very condescending approach to guests he disagrees with. Bolt has bullied anyone who doesn't agree with his extreme right-wing viewpoint.
Court told The Project that people should read the first two chapters of the bible to understand why homosexuality was an abomination and marriage should only be between one man and one woman.
So the first two chapters of the bible (Genesis 1 and 2 for the unintiated), bang on about the creation of the world, you know Adam & Eve, world created in six days and God resting on the seventh.
Interestingly, Genesis 1:29, states: 'And God said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food'. This sounds like a case for legalising cannabis ... but let's not digress ...
So all that is in Genesis 1 and 2 that might apply is the creation of man and woman, telling the man to leave his parents and join his wife and telling them to 'go forth and multiply'. No-one in favour of marriage equality is saying that we should stop procreating, nor are they trying to stop heterosexuals from getting married.
However, if Margaret Court wants to discuss the Old Testament as exemplar of 'traditional marriage', then perhaps she should read it. The bible provides all sorts of examples of marriage such as polygamy, incest, rape, adultery (concubines), forced marriage and sexual slavery, as shown in the following graphic:
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| Refer to Ranting Panda article of 14 February 2016, Church of the Poisoned Mind |
Court was not content to just criticise marriage equality, but personalised her attack on the LGBTIQ community, accusing the 'gay lobby' of being after 'our kids'. She claims that studies show that homosexuality is caused by 'sexual molestation and emotional abuse'. She went on to state that the anti-bullying program Safe Schools, was 'of the devil', that transgender children were 'influenced by the devil' and that the 'gay lobby' was employing the same tactics as Hitler and communism to 'get the minds of the children'.(2)
Like a lot of conservative Christians, Court can't accept that people are born gay because that would completely mess up their interpretation of the bible. After all, how can it be a sin if it occurs naturally? However, most Christians are in favour of marriage equality according a number of polls, yet this is also something that Court is unable to accept.
She then accused tennis of being 'full of lesbians'.
This wasn't Court's first vitriolic attack on the LGBTIQ community. In 2013, she directly attacked Australian tennis star, Casey Dellacqua for being in a same sex relationship and having two children to her partner, Amanda Judd. This week Dellacqua responded to Court's 2013 comments, by explaining how hurt she was by them considering that her and Court had previously had a close professional relationship:
'I’m very conscious of the fact that everyone is allowed their opinion, but when you start singling out my family especially, that’s when it’s not okay. And my family do not deserve to be subject to that. She can have her opinion but my family does not deserve that and did not deserve that. That’s when I thought, you know what, it’s my time to speak up'.(3)
Margaret Court has made many of her arguments personal, even though she uses the old chestnut, 'love the sinner, hate the sin'. Most attacks by Christians on the so-called 'sin' are thinly veiled ad hominem attacks.
Margaret Court has a right to voice her opinion. Freedom of speech is a right for all of us in Australia. However, all of us must accept that when we put our views forward, there is likely to be someone who will disagree and that it is their right to freedom of speech to disagree and express their views.
Surely Margaret Court expected a reaction when she came out with such vulgar, hurtful and harmful attacks on people.
It's a bit rich for Margaret Court to publicly declare a boycott of Qantas and then get upset when people want to boycott the arena named after her. Having said that, Court's sporting achievements should be kept separate from her personal views ... somewhat like Alan Joyce's management of Qantas should be kept separate from his personal views. People can and do hold opinions regardless of their jobs or achievements. Renaming Margaret Court Arena is unnecessary and would resemble a white washing of history.
Margaret Court clearly does not understand the hurt and pain that her comments inflict on people. She has no idea of why Safe Schools was so important in addressing bullying. There are very high suicide rates among LGBTIQ people, particularly young people. Her attack on them as being of the devil is not going to reduce suicide rates, and it is this hateful and ignorant abuse by so many anti-gay advocates that has caused the suicides of so many young people.
Margaret Court has the freedom to express her views, but has to expect that people will hold her to account for her hurtful and damaging views that can and do impact the lives of so many.
References
1. Network 10, The Project, interview with Margaret Court, 26 May 2017, https://youtu.be/vKwo3JHoRXs
2. SBS, Amanda Copp, Ben Winsor, 'They're after our young ones': Margaret Court renews attack on 'gay lobby', 31 May 2017, http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2017/05/31/theyre-after-our-young-ones-margaret-court-renews-attack-gay-lobby. Accessed 2 June 2017.
3. Herald Sun, Leo Schlink, Casey Dellacqua breaks silence on Margaret Court's shocking 2013 article targeting her family, 1 June 2017, http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/tennis/casey-dellacqua-breaks-silence-on-margaret-courts-shocking-2013-article-targeting-her-family/news-story/f9721c2d784595829685408692dad37c. Accessed 2 June 2017.
