Martina Navratilova has long been outspoken about transgender athletes in girls’ and women’s sports.
In a new post on X, the tennis legend said she was “mad” that Republicans have tackled the nationwide controversy, rather than Democrats, the party which she has aligned with.
Navratilova shared a photo of Congresswoman Nancy Mace, R-S.C., with members of Gays Against Groomers, holding up a shirt that read “Save Girls’ Sports.”
Tennis legend Martina Navratilova during the trophy presentations at the French Open on June 8, 2024, in Paris. (Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images)
“And I am so mad that the Republicans captured this issue – shame on all the elected Democrats who keep silent on this!!! #whataboutthewomen,” she wrote on X.
This is not the first time Navratilova has ripped the left for their different views on the issue. The tennis legend appeared at the Independent Women’s Forum’s “Take Back Title IX” rally in June as she and other prominent women athletes pushed back on the Biden administration’s Title IX rewrite.
Navratilova said that she and her fellow Democrats tried to make the playing field fair for transgender athletes to compete in women’s sports. However, when she did more research, she determined it was an impossible task.
Martina Navratilova gives a thumbs up after being honored during the Internazionali BNL D’Italia at Foro Italico on May 21, 2023, in Rome. (Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
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“Initially, being the Democrats and the women that we are for the most part, we in this group were trying to find every single possible way to include trans-identified men, males who identify as women, into women’s sports,” she said. “And the more we try to find a way to mitigate the advantage, to handicap, to somehow to include, the more we figured out it’s not possible. It’s not possible to do it in a fair way and here we are in a much different position.
“As I got deeper into the issue, I also saw the connection between women’s sex-based spaces and women’s sports – they are totally interconnected, and I’m sure the swimmers at Penn could tell you all about that. You heard about Lia Thomas, right?”
“Now, it’s, ‘Oh, you’re a homophobe.’ Go figure. I’ve been out since ’81, yeah, I’m a homophobe,” she said, rolling her eyes. “‘You’re a bigot, you’re a transphobe, you’re a Nazi, you’re a fascist, you’re a communist,’ everything and everything in between. And this is coming from the left. I am the left! My people are turning on me. They’re turning on us, women, who speak up for women’s sex-based rights.”
Martina Navratilova attends the official draw ceremony and gala before the Akron WTA Finals Guadalajara on Nov. 8, 2021, in Zapopan, Mexico. (Hector Vivas/Getty Images for WTA)
Navratilova recently called Italian sprinter Valentina Petrillo, who competed in the Paralympics as a trans woman, a “pathetic cheater.” In March, she made a plea to “keep women’s sports female.”
Fox News’ Ryan Gaydos contributed to this report.
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