This morning, I am watching World Team Tennis. During the commercial break, something illuminating occured. It was a Merrill Lynch commercial. In it was tennis legend Billie Jean King, discussing her life, from her dream of being the best tennis player in the world to accomplishing that goal, and doing more in the process. To me, it was a touching moment. Not only was it Billie Jean King in a commercial selling a product, but it was a fellow member of the LGBT community that was doing so. One must remember that in 1981, when Marilyn Barnett sued King for palimony (the two had been on-and-off lovers while Billie Jean was married to her then-husband Larry), all corporate sponsors dumped the 39-time Grand Slam champ as nothing more than just another queer on the block. King lost over $1.5 million, and was forced to play another two seasons on the WTA tour just to pay lawyers backing Billie Jean in a case that eventually turned out in King’s favor.

Though Billie Jean was not the first LGBT athlete to come out openly as gay (football player David Kopay and baseball player Glenn Burke had preceeded her), she, like all LGBT athletes suffered. When Martina Navratilova came out, just months after the Barnett/King story broke, Martina, like Billie Jean, lost her endorsements as well. However in the years to come, with America’s growing tolerance of homosexuality (as well as pro-gay products willing to be endorsed by out celebrities), athletes like Greg Louganis, Billy Bean, Ameile Mauresmo, Sheryl Swoopes, and John Amechi have all come clean with their life stories, and the struggles that go with it.

And maybe the King commercial has something to do with it. In the last decade, Navratilova did an ad for Sabaru, entertainer Ellen Degeneres endorsed Visa, and Olivia has served as an outlet for many of today’s out and well-known lesbians, including Rosie O’Donnell. In other words, the corporate homophobia that turned Billie Jean King into a pariah in 1981 has very much changed its perception on gays at the present time. And with a new generation of young girls getting to know the history of women in sport, they can look up to that little girl from Long Beach who dreamed big and accomplished big.

God bless Billie Jean King.