A regional sporting club in Western Australia has come under fire following its decision to invite Margaret Court to open its new tennis centre.
Court is one of the world's greatest tennis players but has been heavily criticised for her comments on same-sex marriage, including drawing comparisons between the gay community and Hitler.
Her views have previously prompted calls for the Margaret Court Arena in Melbourne to be re-named.
The former world number one tennis star is set to cut the ribbon at the new multi-million dollar Busselton Tennis club later this month.
It is a move that has divided the community on social media.
Transgender local Suzanne Aston said she was worried about the impact of Court's divisive views on the community.
"I'm not a big fan of that level of hate coming to Busselton and coming to the community [where] I live," Ms Aston said.
"She will split the community again, as she has done elsewhere.
"It's a great shame because she has some fantastic achievements behind her."
Head of LGBTQI+ advocacy group Out South West, David Rhodes, said he was surprised Court had been invited to the event.
"I find it unusual that she's been invited into a regional area to open $4 million dollar tennis centre with that sort of controversy over her head at the moment," Dr Rhodes said.
"That's a rather polarising thing to do when you would want the whole community to be coming together to celebrate this construction."
Organisers defend decision
President of the Busselton Tennis Club, Barry House, said the community should be able to accept views that were different to their own and focus on the sport.
"We respect Margaret's views and we respected Margaret's outstanding record — it's without peer in the world," Mr House said.
"This is purely about opening Australia's best regional tennis centre."
Busselton Mayor Grant Henley said the city was not involved in selecting the guest list, despite providing the majority of the $4 million in funding for the centre.
However, he said Court was there to speak about tennis, not to spread her views on gay marriage.
"Margaret Court is a legend of the game," Mr Henley said.
"[Her views] are not my views and not the views of the majority of the community, as we saw through the plebiscite.
"But she's here representing her sport at the opening of a new tennis centre."
Court, who has been contacted by the ABC for comment, will not be paid for attending the event.
