Laura Robson causes a stir with 'gay rights hairband'

BRITAIN's tennis players have not made much of an impact with their tennis at the Australian Open, but Laura Robson managed to create a stir thanks to her choice of headgear during her first-round match against Jelena Jankovich yesterday.
 
The Australian-born Briton sported a hairband in the colours of the rainbow flag that has come to represent gay rights when she stepped out onto the Margaret Court Arena, which is named after the former tennis star turned pastor who has been outspoken against same-sex marriages.
 
After losing the match, Robson, who turns 18 this week, explained that she wore the hairband because she was in favour of "equal rights for everyone" but distanced herself from a protest against Court's comments that has been co-ordinated on Facebook.
 
The social media campaign called for "Rainbow Flags over Margaret Court Arena".
 
The Daily Telegraph reports: "Robson said she wore [the hairband] after reading about comments made by Court, who is now a pastor at a Perth church, and has claimed that homosexuality had tarnished women's tennis."
 
After her 6-2, 6-0 defeat, Robson told the media: "I wore it because I believe in equal rights for everyone. That's it. It's not a protest, it's just a hairband."
 
Last week Court was reported as saying: "Politically correct education has masterfully escorted homosexuality out from behind closed doors, into the community openly and now is aggressively demanding marriage rights that are not theirs to take."
 
That led to calls from some for the arena to be renamed, while former champions and rivals Billie-Jean King and Martina Navratilova, who are both gay, have joined the criticism of Court. ·