Sigur Rós to use gig at Margaret Court Arena to campaign for marriage equality

The popular band have released a statement saying they'd learned of Margaret Court's recent homophobic comments, and rather than moving venues, decided to use their gig to help campaign for the legalisation of same-sex marriage in Australia.

Icelandic band Sigur Rós will add their voice to Australia's fight for marriage equality, in the wake of Margaret Court's homophobic comments. Source: (L), Sigur Rós Facebook, (R) Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

Icelandic band Sigur Rós are scheduled to play a stadium show at the Margaret Court Arena on July 27. 

Today, the popular rock band released a statement explaining that they had learned about the recent homophobic and transphobic comments made by tennis champion Margaret Court, who the arena is named after. 

They have promised to make their show "the most inclusive night ever", and will be selling a t-shirt exclusive to the the band's Australian shows, from which all proceeds will go to Australian Marriage Equality (AME).

The band explains that friends and fans expressed concerns that they were playing a show at the arena after the comments, and so they wanted to both address these concerns, and "add their voice to the call for marriage equality" by defiantly playing the gig at the venue.

“We know Margaret Court’s opinions are not shared by the majority of Australians. We want to add our voice to the call for marriage equality in Australia – right here on Margaret Court Arena itself.

"Australia should be a country that celebrates positivity and inclusion, as well as achievement on the sporting field.”

“Let’s make 27 July Margaret Court Arena’s most inclusive night ever and call for every Australian to have the same dignity and respect right here on centre court.”

We want to add our voice to the call for marriage equality in Australia – right here on Margaret Court Arena itself.

Margaret Court has received widespread backlash since May, when she announced she would be boycotting Qantas due to its public support for marriage equality, as well as the personal support for same-sex marriage from CEO Alan Joyce - who is openly gay.

After media coverage of Court's comments grew, the former champion doubled down, and told the 20Twenty Vision Christian Radio program that she believed that transgender people were "the work of the devil" and the agenda to 'create' trans children is similar "to what Hitler and communism did". Shortly after this, she told a 3AW radio show that these comments were all taken out of context, but she does believe that most transgender children were sexually abused as children. 

A number of famous tennis players have spoken out against Court's comments, including Martina Navratilova and Sam Stosur. 

Sigur Rós explained in their open letter that their country, Iceland, legalised same-sex marriage in 2010, while being led by open gay Prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir - she was also one of the first people in Iceland to marry under the new legislation.