On May 1, 1981, Billie Jean Kg publicly me out as gay
Contents:
- MAY 1, 1981: THE DAY BILLIE JEAN KG PUBLICLY ME OUT AS GAY
- TENNIS LEGEND BILLIE JEAN KG SLAMS RON DESANTIS OVER FLORIDA’S ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ LAW: ‘HE PROBABLY HAS GAY KIDS HIS FAY’
MAY 1, 1981: THE DAY BILLIE JEAN KG PUBLICLY ME OUT AS GAY
* was billy jean king gay *
On May 1, 1981, Billie Jean Kg, driven by circumstanc, beme the first proment profsnal female athlete to publicly e out about her homosexualy. Bart’s lawyers thought this prciple uld also apply a homosexual relatnship and sought half of Billie Jean Kg’s earngs throughout the seven-year perd.
Over the years, beme more mon for female athlet to be open about their homosexualy. She knew she was gay.
In the 70s, homosexualy was still crimalized many stat and close iends disuraged her om g out, pecially as her reer was boomg. Although Billie had officially been out of the closet for 13 years, she didn’t tell her mother she was gay until she was 51.
TENNIS LEGEND BILLIE JEAN KG SLAMS RON DESANTIS OVER FLORIDA’S ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ LAW: ‘HE PROBABLY HAS GAY KIDS HIS FAY’
One of the first female tennis players Billie Jean Kg was a pneer for women's and LGBT rights. Is she gay? YES! Fd out all the tails about her Battle of the Sex match, marriage to Larry Kg, relatnship stat and how she paved the way for women to earn as much as men. * was billy jean king gay *
Her story shows that you n ce immense change even if you have to fight for ntrol at CEO and Print Sarah Kate Ellis explas to Refery29 that Kg wasn't always the out and proud gay woman she is today — and that's mostly bee of the polil climate of the time. That was when "thgs started to soar for her as an activist and an outwardly gay person, " Ellis Refery29's recent panel discsn wh Kg, Emma Stone, Valerie Faris, and Shonda Rhim, which was sponsored by Cizen Watch, Kg shared the moment she beme aware of the reprentatn issu wh tennis: "Everyone played whe sho, whe socks, whe cloth, played wh whe balls, and everyone who played was whe. The ia that "if you’re athletic, you mt be a lbian" has been ed to dismiss the talents of female athlet, but, as a gay woman who was also an credible tennis player, Kg put a posive sp on that c 73, Kg don't appear to be slowg down her public pursu of LGBTQ visibily, om her ongog work wh the Elton John AIDS Foundatn to her clivy project, the Billie Jean Kg Learship Iniative, which she found to "found to challenge the way race, genr, and sexualy are ed to discrimate agast people and prevent them om reachg their full potential.
Tennis star Billie Jean Kg, a women's rights activist who has never shied om ntroversy, acknowledged yterday at a prs nference Los Angel that she had a homosexual relatnship wh her former secretary, who is now sug her for property and lifetime support. "But the gay rights activist, now 73, admted she didn’t start feelg fortable about beg gay until she was 51 years old, after "tons of therapy. " She believ this was partly bee of the shame many people — cludg her own parents — associated wh homosexualy, which Kg said “was a big al the '70s.
Kg didn't realize she was gay until 1968 at age 25, after she had already married her llege boyiend, Larry Kg.