"I had to wait till my citizenship, back then it was a disqualifier to be gay" - When Martina Navratilova opened up about revealing her sexuality
Martina Navratilova had to go through a long wait before she could come out as gay, due to unfortunate reasons and circumstances beyond her control. The Czech-American tennis great once explained why she was forced to delay coming out. She also opened up about when she first revealed her sexuality and how the news was made public without her consent.
Discrimination towards those coming out as gay back in the 1970s and 80s meant that Navratilova had to wait to attain American citizenship to be able to reveal her sexual identity, as she feared being "disqualified" while she waited to be cleared as an American citizen. Navratilova kept dodging numerous questions about the same before she got her citizenship in 1981.
"I actually had to wait till I got my citizenship before I came out because back then it was a disqualifier to be gay. So I've had reporters after me for years, they were like, 'What about you?' and I said, 'I can't talk about it until I get my citizenship'," Martina Navratilova said in an interview to Fortune Magazine a few years ago.
Navratilova felt like she finally got the opportunity to go public about her personal life when she became a United States citizen in July 1981. However, the WTA asked her to continue to hold back the information as they "couldn't have any more scandals" after a controversy involving Billie Jean King. Once again, the American great was forced to stay quiet about her sexuality.
"So I got my citizenship, two days later I flew to Monte Carlo...The next day a reporter from the Daily News calls me and says, 'So Martina, are you ready to talk about it?' I'm like, I really can't because there was a scandal with Billie Jean (King) back then and the WTA said we can't have any more scandals, or we may lose our sponsorships. So I'm like, okay, I'll be quiet again," Navratilova said on the same.
Navratilova revealed that the said reporter from the New York Daily News had promised her that he would keep her sexual preference a secret but did not keep his promise, publishing the news the very next day. While the 18-time Grand Slam singles champion felt hard done by the same, she also felt relieved because of the long wait to reveal her sexuality.
"I said to him, 'No, I can't talk about it because of the sponsorship, this and that.' I asked him, 'You won't talk about right?' and he said, 'No, not if you don't want me to.' The next day it was in the paper - 'Martina cannot talk about her sexuality'," continued Navratilova.
"So I was kind of outed but I've been wanting to come out for such a long time, but I couldn't. So it was kinda messy," she added.
"I was always covering somebody else's behind by not coming out" - Martina Navratilova
20-time Wimbledon winner (across singles and doubles) Martina Navratilova further opened up about the challenge of delaying coming out as gay as she was always asked to put others' interests before her own, such as the request from the WTA. Navratilova, however, admitted that she also protected her own interests by delaying the revelation until she became a US citizen.
"I was always covering somebody else's behind by not coming out. Although I covered mine by not coming out because I wouldn't be able to become an American," Martina Navratilova expressed.
While the timing of the news being published and her own eventual public revelation was stressful, she said that she finally felt accepted at the US Open a month after the incident. After Martina Navratilova lost the 1981 US Open singles final to Tracy Austin, she received a huge round of applause from the spectators.
"When I got my trophy, people were clapping and they kept clapping. I finally started crying because I felt accepted. For the first time, I felt like I was at home," she revealed.