Australian tennis legend Margaret Court has likened anti-bullying programs such as Safe Schools to the propaganda of Adolf Hitler and Communists, and says her own sport is "full of lesbians".
Ms Court, a 74-year-old senior pastor at Perth's Victory Life Church, told 20Twenty Vision Christian Radio's Neil Johnson on Monday "the mind is a battlefield" and sexuality and gender confusion in children was "the devil".
"That's all the devil, we'll say there is a devil," she said in an interview which has since been posted on the station's website.
The 'confusion' was created by gay-rights activists, Ms Court said.
"That's what Hitler did and that's what Communism did - it got to the mind of the children. And there's a whole plot in our nation, and in the nations of the world to get to the minds of the children."
Court - who is one of only two women to win a calendar year grand slam in tennis's modern era and holds the record for the most grand slam singles titles with 24 - has long been a critic of same-sex marriage, said even in her own sport people were trying to influence younger players.
"Tennis is full of lesbians because even when I was playing there was only a couple there, but those couple took young ones into parties and, things... because they like to be around heroes," she said.
Ms Court sparked controversy last week when she wrote a letter to The West Australian newspaper saying she would now boycott Qantas "where possible" in protest against the airline's promotion of same sex marriage.
In response there have been calls for Melbourne Park's Margaret Court Arena to be renamed, with some current players suggesting a boycott of playing on the court at the 2018 Australian Open, while Tennis Australia said Court's views on gay rights do not align with the governing body's.
In her interview Ms Court said some in the media and tennis's response to her letter was bullying and her Christian views weren't being heard.
