WASHINGTON — Billie Jean King will turn out to be the primary particular person feminine athlete to be awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.
Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey introduced Tuesday that their bipartisan laws had handed the Home of Representatives and could be despatched to President Joe Biden for his signature.
The invoice to honour King, the tennis Corridor of Famer and activist, had already handed unanimously within the Senate.
Sherrill, a Democrat, stated in a press release that King’s “lifetime of advocacy and exhausting work modified the panorama for girls and ladies on the court docket, within the classroom, and the office.”
The invoice was launched final September on the fiftieth anniversary of King’s victory over Bobby Riggs within the “Battle of the Sexes,” nonetheless the most-watched tennis match of all-time. The medal, awarded by Congress for distinguished achievements and contributions to society, has beforehand been given to athletes together with baseball gamers Jackie Robinson and Roberto Clemente, and golfers Jack Nicklaus, Byron Nelson and Arnold Palmer.
King had already been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009. Fitzpatrick, a Republican, says she has “damaged boundaries, led uncharted paths, and impressed numerous folks to face proudly with braveness and conviction within the combat for what is correct.”
