Billie Jean King on Presidential Medal of Freedom honorees: ““I think it’s the first time the LGBT community has been acknowledged”

In recent years, Billie Jean King has been getting a lot of well-deserved honors for a lifetime of achievement and trying to make the world a better and more equal place.

But she admits in an interview with the Associated Press that being being honored with a Presidential Medal of Freedom – the nation’s highest honor for a civilian – along with Harvey Milk, Sandra Day O’Connor, Desmond Tutu and Ted Kennedy, among others, is very special.

“It’s another one I can’t believe,” Billie Jean said Friday. “Sandra Day O’Connor, hello. Tutu, Ted, I was overwhelmed when I heard it. What about Milk man? I was so excited for the community. I think it’s the first time the LGBT community has been acknowledged. It’s another breakthrough.

“I’m very visible because of being able to play tennis,” she added. “Believe me, Harvey Milk, that’s a whole other discussion. I’m so thrilled he’s going to be recognized.”

If you ever watched a superb HBO documentary on Billie Jean from 2006, then you would know that her mom and dad, Betty and Bill Moffit, were her two biggest champions. (Bill died a few years ago). Betty Jean Moffit is 87 and will be at The White House ceremony next month.

BJK loves to tell anecdotes about how her mother always kept her ambitious daughter’s feet on the ground such as when she, at the age of 11, announced to her mother that she was going to be the number one tennis player in the world. Her mother, driving their station wagon, said, “That’s nice dear, you’ve got piano lessons tomorrow.”

Billie Jean shared another one with AP: “When I was 7, I said, ‘Mom, I know I’m going to do something great with my life. She said, ‘That’s all right, just get the dishes done.”’

Bill and Betty must have known what the heck they were doing. Their other child, Randy Moffitt, was a major league baseball player for many years.