Tennis legend and superstar lesbian Martina Navratilova was released from a Kenyan hospital today, three days after developing altitude sickness while climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. The 54-year-old athlete was carried off the mountain on a stretcher after she became ill from high-altitude pulmonary edema. Martina was climbing the world's fourth highest peak as part of a fundraising team, and they experienced unusually bad weather during the climb. At 14,000 feet Martina was having great difficulty breathing, and the team doctor told her to descend. (To see more photos from Martina's Kilimanjaro expedition, click here for the Zimbio photo album.)"I am feeling much better and really pleased to be going home. I'd like to thank all the staff at the Nairobi Hospital, who were wonderful, and really took care of me," Martina said on her official website.
It's been a tough year for our girl Martina. She announced she was diagnosed with breast cancer in spring 2010 and underwent a lumpectomy and radiation treatment. Her prognosis was very good and the treatment declared successful.We wish only the best for Martina, because she holds a dear place in our sapphic hearts. For many of us, she was the first public person in our lifetimes to come out as a lesbian in a positive manner. Martina announced her lesbianism publicly in 1981. (Billie Jean King was outed as "bisexual" in an ugly scandal, and as a child I remember noting it as an example of what to avoid.) In fact, in my early teens Martina was the only lesbian I knew—or knew of.
And the amazing thing is that everyone still loved her. The sports world celebrated her as one of the greatest athletes ever. And—perhaps most influential of all—Christ Evert remained her loyal friend. Chris Evert, with her blond ponytail and No. 1 ranking, was the equivalent of the prom queen in the tennis world, and she proudly called Martina her friend as they waged one of the biggest rivalries in sports history. Of course, Martina went on to dominate women's tennis, winning 18 Grand Slam singles titles, and a record-breaking 31 Grand Slam doubles titles. But Chris Evert, in the pre-Ellen era, really showed the straight world that you could have a gay friend.Off the court, Martina has also been a great crusader for animal rights, women's health, and gay rights. Get well soon, Martina!
