Martina Navratilova claims she’s been ‘jettisoned’ by the LGBTQ+ community over her trans views
Martina Navratilova has spoke of the reaction of the LGBTQ+ community to her anti-trans views (Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Former Wimbledon champion Martina Navratilova says she has been “jettisoned” by the LGBTQ+ community because of her anti-trans views.
Navratilova, who is a lesbian, has been a vocal opponent of trans inclusion in sport, saying transgender rights are being put “ahead of women’s rights, particularly for males [who] identify as women”.
She has previously criticised Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe for his support of the trans community, telling him to be “quiet”, and described a drag queen as a “pathetic parody of women” after they spoke out against LGBTQ+ hate.
“I’ve been jettisoned by a lot of the groups in the LGBT community. But I’ve been speaking my mind for a long time. I’m not going to change that,” she said at a press conference ahead this year’s Wimbledon championships, according to the Daily Mail.
“Yes, it’s been pretty rough. But I know I’m on the right side of history. I’m right on most people’s opinion about women’s sex-based spaces, and especially sports. They need to stay female.”
The nine-times Wimbledon singles champion said it has been “pretty rough” for her but vowed to “keep fighting” for women’s sports and single-sex spaces.
“Women are asked to be kind and inclusive, yet by including transgender-identified males in women’s sports, you’re excluding women.”
Navratilova’s anti-trans views have been criticised by US lesbian football star Megan Rapinoe who said she finds it “frustrating when women’s sport is weaponised” and came out swinging for inclusion in sport.
“Now we care about women’s sports?” she asked. “That’s total bulls**t. Show me all the trans people who are nefariously taking advantage of being trans in sports. It’s just not happening.
“When Martina or Sage [Steele, a former ESPN sports news anchor] are talking about this, people aren’t hearing it just in the context of elite sports. They’re saying: ‘The rest of my life, this is how I’m going to treat trans people’.”
Navratilova, who also won the US Open singles four times, came out as bisexual during an interview with New York Daily News in 1981, adding that she was in a relationship with feminist writer Rita Mae Brown.
She asked the newspaper not to publish the interview until she came out publicly, but they did anyway and she later came out as a lesbian.
