.Sep 17, 2024, 09:18 PM ETWASHINGTON-- Billie Jean Master are going to come to be the very first private girls's sportsmen to be awarded the Legislative Gold Medal.Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania as well as Mikie Sherrill of New Shirt declared Tuesday that their bipartisan laws had passed your house of Representatives and also would be sent out to President Joe Biden for his signature.The expense to recognize King, the tennis Hallway of Famer and also lobbyist, had actually passed all in the Senate.Sherrill, a Democrat, said in a statement that Master's "lifetime of proposal and hard work modified the garden for females and also females on the courtroom, in the class, and the office." The bill was launched in September 2023 on the 50th anniversary of King's success over Bobby Riggs in the "Struggle of the Sexes," still the most-watched tennis suit of perpetuity. The medal, awarded through Congress for notable achievements as well as payments to culture, has actually previously been actually provided athletes, including baseball players Jackie Robinson as well as Roberto Clemente and also golf players Jack Nicklaus, Byron Nelson as well as Arnold Palmer.King had actually actually been awarded the Presidential Award of Independence in 2009. Fitzpatrick, a Republican, mentions she has "busted barricades, led uncharted pathways, as well as motivated numerous folks to stand happily along with guts as well as view in the fight for what is right.".