Martina Navratilova strongly criticized for remarks on transgender athletes
The 18-time Grand Slam winner Martina Navratilova claimed that transgender athletes should not be allowed to play in women's sports. Navratilova, a former world no. 1 who is openly gay and who was coached by a transgender player-turned-coach Renee Richards, shared her views in a column on the Sunday Times. “You can’t just proclaim yourself a female and be able to compete against women," wrote Navratilova. "There must be some standards, and having a penis and competing as a woman would not fit that standard. I promised to keep quiet on the subject until I had properly researched it... well, I’ve now done that and, if anything, my views have strengthened. To put the argument at its most basic: a man can decide to be female, take hormones if required by whatever sporting organisation is concerned, win everything in sight and perhaps earn a small fortune, and then reverse his decision and go back to making babies if he so desires. It’s insane and it’s cheating. I was happy to address a transgender woman in whatever form she prefers, but I would not be happy to compete against her. It would not be fair.”
Navratilova's comments raised a lot of criticism, and Dr. Rachel McKinnon, who was the first transgender woman to win a world track cycling title, said: "Navratilova has removed all doubt: she is absolutely transphobic. This is, in her own words with the time of forethought and authorship, Martina Navratilova’s ‘core’ argument against trans women athletes."
from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2H2UdGW
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