Billie Jean King: The equality champion

Tennis champion Billie Jean King has been a longtime pioneer on and off the court, using her status as a prominent athlete to champion gender equality and LGBTQ visibility.

She was the first tennis player — and woman — to be named Sports Illustrated's Sportsperson of the Year in 1972.

The same year, during the fight for legal abortion access, she joined Ms. Magazine's list of prominent women who admitted to having an abortion.

After winning the US Open in 1972, she threatened to boycott the next year if men and women were not awarded the same prize money. Consequently, the tournament made the prize money the same for both sexes in 1973.

King's career took off following the "Battle of the Sexes" in 1973, where she went head-to-head with a male tennis champion nearly twice her age.

The matchup with Bobby Riggs was watched by millions, and King said she not only wanted to win, she had to win for the sake of gender equality.

Her career took a hit in 1981 after news leaked that she was in a secret relationship with another woman while she was married to a man.

She argued with her managers and lawyers to hold a press conference so she could control the message about her sexuality.

When she publicly confirmed that she was in a lesbian relationship, she became the first out LGBTQ athlete and lost all her endorsement deals. But she likely made the road smoother for those who followed, including Martina Navratilova who lost none of her endorsement deals when she was outed just a few months later.

King divorced her husband in 1987 and is now with her longtime partner and fellow tennis champion, Ilana Kloss.

King was awarded the President Medal of Freedom by President Obama in 2009 and later went on to found the Billie Jean King Leadership Initiative in 2014 to highlight diverse talent from around the world.

by Erika Ryan