Tennis Legend Martina Navratilova Doesn't Hold Back Thoughts On Transgender Athletes

CANCUN, MEXICO – NOVEMBER 02: Martina Navratilova talks to the media during a press conference on Day 5 of the GNP Seguros WTA Finals Cancun 2023 part of the Hologic WTA Tour on November 02, 2023 in Cancun, Mexico (Photo by Robert Prange/Getty Images) Robert Prange/Getty Images

Tennis legend Martina Navratilova didn’t hold back her thoughts on transgender women competing in sports earlier this week.

Navratilova responded to an article calling for sports organizations to create “standards for what was acceptable in terms of fairness and safety,” according to a report from SportsKeeda.

The line of thinking believes that the world isn’t black and white, noting it can’t be boiled down to just men vs. women. “This includes people born with natural variations in sex traits and transgender individuals who don’t identify with the sex they were assigned at birth,” SportsKeeda wrote.

Instead of just banning transgender athletes, the proposition looks for sports bodies to establish standards for what can be considered “tolerable unfairness” and judge safety risks.

Navratilova is against such a move.

“There is no such thing as Tolerable Unfairness! Stop making it about non-females when it comes to female sports!!! We are sick of it! Also- there is plenty of robust data- it’s called records and results and different %s of male advantage for different sports. Just stop it!” Navratilova wrote on social media.

“This is not against trans athletes. This is against male bodies competing as women if they identify as women,” she clarified later.

During an appearance on the ‘On with Kara Swisher’ podcast, Navratilova attempted to clarify her comments once again.

“We are not against trans athletes. We are for women athletes to compete on as level a playing field as possible, which means the males who now identify as women, should compete in a male category and women who identify as men but don’t take testosterone can compete as women. Because there is still no advantage physically over other women athletes,” Martina Navratilova said.

Navratilova suggested she’s for transgender rights “on a civil level,” but doesn’t agree with “male bodies competing as women.”

“I’m all for trans rights on a civil level, a hundred percent. And this is not against trans athletes,” she said. “This is against male bodies competing as women if they identify as women. Many sports don’t even have any mitigation, any allowance for lowering the testosterone level.”

This topic isn’t going away any time soon.