Logo will honor tennis legend Billie Jean King at their Trailblazer Honors, to be broadcast on Logo and VH1 this Saturday, June 25, at 8pmET/PT.
Honoring King will be a number of sports pioneers, including Jason Collins, Chris Evert and Mary Carillo. You can watch their video appreciation of King below.
Presenting King with the award will be actress Emma Stone, who will play the tennis legend in the upcoming film "Battle of the Sexes," a movie based on the historic 1973 tennis match in which Billie Jean King famously defeated pro tennis player Bobby Riggs, who will be played by Steve Carell.
From Logo:
Billie Jean King is not only one of the first prominent professional athletes to be openly lesbian, but is renowned in the tennis world for being one of the greatest to ever play the game. King won 39 Grand Slam singles, doubles and mixed doubles titles and her work to open doors for women and LGBT people made and changed history. In 1972, she became the first woman to be named Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year and was inducted to the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1987. In 2014, President Obama selected Billie Jean King to be a part of the official US Delegation to the Sochi Winter Olympics and she used the platform to speak out against anti-LGBT laws in Russia and around the world. She has been a staunch supporter of the Elton John AIDS Foundation and LPAC, an organization dedicated to increasing the political power of lesbian and queer women. She also founded the Billie Jean King Leadership Initiative to inspire a new generation of leaders on issues including diversity and inclusion. In 2009, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest award that can be given to a civilian in the United States, for her work to advocate for equality for women and LGBT people.
Seems pretty darn deserving of a "Trailblazer" honor to me! Congratulations Billie Jean, and thank you Logo for recognizing a sports figure in your show!
