By Phoebe Moses

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – Australian tennis legend Margaret Court said this week that while she supports gay rights, her religious views prevent her from supporting same-sex marriage.

In an interview with Reuters on January 11, Court, a 24-times grand slam singles champion and a pastor at Victory Life Centre Church in Perth, Australia, said “I actually love homosexual people.

I do not have anything against them.”

But her views on same-sex marriage can be found “in the scriptures,” she said, adding that “the bible will always be the TV guide to my life. I believe marriage is something between a man and a woman.”

“To dismantle this sole definition of marriage and try to legitimize what God calls abominable sexual practices that include sodomy, reveals our ignorance as to the ills that come when society is forced to accept law that violates their very own God-given nature of what is right and what is wrong,” Court told an interviewer.

The 69-year-old Court has long been on-record as opposing same-sex marriage. Her views came under attack recently by retired women’s tennis champions Martina Navratilova and Billie Jean King after an interview in which she restated her opposition, referring to same-sex marriage as “unhealthy” and “unnatural.”

Court said she has told Navratilova previously that she was unlikely to change her opinion on same-sex unions. “I said ‘Martina, God loves you but a wrong does not make a right,’” she recalled, adding that she told the Czech-American tennis star, “Don’t try to change me’.” Both Navratilova and King are gay.

Australian LGBT rights activists are calling for those attending this year’s Australian Open first grand slam event, which starts on January 16, to carry “rainbow flags” with them to Margaret Court Arena, Melbourne Park named show-court named after the tennis champ. A “Rainbow Flags over Margaret Court Arena” page on Facebook is calling on people to come out in large numbers. “Our Mission: To support the gay community by inundating MCA with rainbow flags during the Australian Open,” it says.

Tournament director Craig Tiley distanced his organization and himself from the hot-button elements of the issue, saying: “Margaret Court has won more grand slam titles than any other player and has been honored for her achievements in tennis. 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.”

Court told Reuters that she will attend the Australian Open, although she is “sad” that activists protesters might seek to use the tennis as a venue for expressing their views.

She was sad her religious views were being used as fuel for a planned protest at next week’s Australian Open, but said she remained staunchly opposed to same-sex marriage.

Martina Navratilova (above) Has Taken Issue with the Expressed Beliefs of Margaret Court