Tennis icon and renowned Donald Trump critic Martina Navratilova has sided with the president over his decision to ban transgender athletes from participating in women’s sports.
The 78-year-old made a huge move to preserve the safety of female athletes in February by signing an executive order, named “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports”, preventing biological men from competing in girls and women’s sports teams and competitions, fulfilling a central promise of his 2024 campaign.
The 47th U.S. President has come under heavy fire for his decision from members of the trans community but he has also received his fair share of support, with Navratilova now surprisingly being one of those. The 68-year-old, who herself is a member of the LGBTQ+ community, still disagrees with Trump on “everything” else, however.
The nine-time Wimbledon singles champion has consistently expressed her opposition to transgender athletes competing against biological females, referring to them as “failed male athletes”, despite facing severe backlash for her views. Nonetheless, Navratilova refuses to budge on the issue.
“I disagree with Trump on everything but this issue… and for that I am called a Nazi… homophobe… bigot… the Democrats dropped the ball, Republicans ran with it, and it’s a popular issue,” Navratilova, who is also a lesbian and claims to have been “jettisoned’ by LGBTQ+ advocates due to her stance, shared with The Daily T.
“And Democrats are still doubling down. They’re still not changing their mind,” she continued. “But Trump is right on this. There should be no males in women’s sports, period – pun kind of intended. Because it’s obviously not fair.”
(Image: Rob Newell – CameraSport/CameraSport via Getty Images)
Last week, the UK’s Supreme Court made a landmark ruling that the definition of a woman is based on biological sex, a decision that was met with both applause and protests. In an extensive 88-page judgement, the Supreme Court justices stated: “The definition of sex in the Equality Act 2010 makes clear that the concept of sex is binary, a person is either a woman or a man.”
This could have a significant impact on sports, as trans women holding a gender recognition certificate (GRC) can be excluded from single-sex spaces if it is deemed “proportionate”. Baroness Kishwer Falkner, chairwoman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), has since confirmed that trans women would not be allowed to participate in women’s sports.
In December, The Lawn Tennis Association banned trans women from national tournaments, but international competitions like Wimbledon and Queen’s follow international guidelines on gender, an issue which Navratilova has already expressed her frustration towards.
“I’ve been talking to those bodies and they just do not listen,” the former AP Female Athlete of the Year groaned. “Wimbledon, the Lawn Tennis Association, the International Tennis Federation and the Association of Tennis Professionals – it’s a moving target, they keep changing the rules.”
Navratilova added that taking “a simple cheek swab test to prove you’re female” would be a simple solution to solving whether you can or can’t play in a female only tournament. She isn’t alone in her stance, either, with Wimbledon icon Sue Barker also in support of a ban on self-identified trans women competing against biological females.
Barker told The Telegraph last year that she is “definitely with Navratilova” if it means preventing taking away young girls’ dreams, something former University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines – who has emerged as a public face of the opposition to transgender athletes – is also doing her best to push.
- Source: NEWHD MEDIA
