Navratilova’s comments
Tennis great Martina Navratilova has sparked outrage among the transgender community after saying that people who were born male shouldn’t be allowed to compete in women’s sport.
The 17-time grand slam champion was commenting on Twitter about transgender women in sport and she was accused of being ‘‘transphobic’’.
Navratilova, who was responding to a question from one of her followers, said: ‘‘Clearly that can’t be right. You can’t just proclaim yourself a female and be able to compete against women. There must be some standards, and having a penis and competing as a woman would not fit that standard.’’
She added: ‘‘For me it’s all about fairness. Which means taking every case individually . . . there is no cookie cutter way of doing things.’’
Kiwi transgender weightlifter Laurel Hubbard, who previously competed as a man, was a divisive figure in the women’s event at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games after making the transition to become female.
Navratilova’s comments prompted angry responses from Dr Rachel McKinnon, who controversially won a women’s event at the UCI Masters track cycling world championships.
McKinnon, a Canadian cyclist and transgender activist, was born a male before becoming a female in her 20s and her victory at the Los Angeles event in October sparked controversy as she towered above her rivals on the podium.
McKinnon demanded that Navratilova, 62, apologise among several critical tweets.
‘‘Genitals do not play sports. What part of a penis is related to tennis? How does that ‘level’ any playing field?’’