SORRY...i have to speak up here. Navratilova is the gay freedom icon here, not King. King is a feminist hero but has only recently publicly self identified as gay. Martina has been in the trenches since her early fame when all the powers that be on the tour, including BJK, were advising her to tone it down due to the possible harm to the tour. Navratilova is the LGBT heroine. Hands down.
Martina was forced out also. A NY Daily News reporter published the fact that she was "bi-sexual" in 1981. Martina was told by the reporter that the revelation would be strictly "off the record". She needed to do damage control. P.S.--BJK never advised her to "tone it down".
Well im sure id trust the accounts of people like rita mae brown AND bjk herself ( see 1982 autobiography ) but thanks. Even if forced out by the daily news, mn has always lived an out life. Shes unique and needs to be held above others...
You totally side stepped my point. Martina was FORCED out by the NY Daily News reporter, and had to practice damage control, on her personage in 1981. She was FORCED out of the closet. BJK never, ever, advised her to "tone it down". Please fully read my posts before responding. Also, Rita Mae Brown is hardly an unbiased reporter. She and Martina had an affair which went south, and Rita Mae actually tried to shoot Martina after one of their final arguments (hardly a witness of sound mind and body).
@@MrYonexguy63 Martina has not lived a FULL LIFE as an out woman. I wish people would read full posts before responding, because it would many keystrokes. Martina was FORCED OUT in 1981 because a NY Daily News reporter did her dirty, and decided to print parts of his interview with her (especially those regarding her sexuality) even though he promised that what she told him was "off the record". Martina had to practice damage control, and forced to address the issue of her sexuality. BJK NEVER told Martina to "'tone it down". That is pure fiction. Rita Mae Brown is hardly a credible witness to anything. She disliked BJK (perhaps she was spurned?), and had an affair with Martina that ended with her shooting a gun at Martina while Martina was trying to drive away from them during an argument.
@@TheVerbalVolley Have you EVER heard Martina speak- she talks about this in depth. She defected from a communist country in 1975 and it took her nearly 6 years to get her US Citizenship. She could have been barred from citizenship had she come out (in 1970s/early 80s homosexuality could disqualify you). When reporters asked her, she said point blank- I can't talk about that until I get my citizenship- planning to come out then- she came out to her parents in 1980 in anticipation of that. She got her citizenship in 7/81, but a few months before that- BJK was outed and sued for palimony by her ex girlfriend- Marilyn Barnett. The WTA told her that if she came out/created another scandal, the main tour sponsor, Avon, had told them they would pull their sponsorship. She was in a relationship with the deeply closeted Nancy Lieberman when she was outed, so she had to walk a fine line not to out Nancy. At the time, she did identify as bisexual because she had dated and had sexual relations with men in her teens. During the Judy Nelson relationship, she began to exclusively consider and refer to herself as a lesbian. FYI- both Judy and Rita Mae deny the shooting story. Nancy Lieberman told that one in her book- Martina didn't say it in hers (1985 publication, several years before Nancy's). Yes- Forced out- i.e. 'outed' but more than ready and willing to come out. Once out- she picked up the mantel and carried it ALONE for YEARS! BJK denied being gay in a Barbara Walters interview and didn't speak of it again for years.
