Tennis legend and feminist icon Billie Jean King was profiled in the April 4-6 edition of USA Weekend, and among the topics interviewer Cokie Roberts covered was King's sexual orientation.
At one point, Roberts said to King, 'One of the places where you've been an icon is in gay rights. That's bound to have had an effect on young women, particularly, but also on young men in the world.'
King responded, in part, 'People in the gay community come up to me a lot and say 'thank you.' They get tears in their eyes, and the ones who are older and saw me go through my palimony case have a much better understanding of what I was going through. ... [ T ] he problem is, we're in the minority, and when you're a minority, you have to wait a long time—just like people of color with civil rights. You need straight people who have compassion and can put themselves in your shoes.'