WASHINGTON — Billie Jean King will turn into the primary particular person ladies’s 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 can be despatched to President Joe Biden for his signature.
The invoice to honor King, the tennis Corridor of Famer and activist, had already handed unanimously within the Senate.
Sherrill, a Democrat, mentioned in an announcement that King’s “lifetime of advocacy and onerous work modified the panorama for girls and ladies on the court docket, within the classroom, and the office.”
The invoice was launched in September 2023 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 battle for what is true.”