Two in three back Navratilova over trans sport ‘cheats’

Survey shows almost half of British adults believe the transgender rights movement has gone too far

NEARLY two thirds of the British public believe it is cheating for transgender women who were born male to compete in women’s sports, a survey has revealed. The poll found 63 per cent agreed with Martina Navratilova, the former Wimbledon champion who faced criticism after asserting that transgender women competing in women’s sporting events would be “cheating” because they would have an “unfair physical advantage”.

She later apologised, clarifying that she was referring to a “notional case in which someone cynically changed gender, perhaps temporarily, to gain a competitive advantage”.

In the poll, 12 per cent disagreed with her while 25 per cent did not know. Men were more supportive of the lesbian tennis star’s stance than women, with 70 per cent of males agreeing with her compared with 56 per cent of females.

The Comres poll of more than 2,000 adults found almost half (44 per cent) believed the transgender rights movement had gone too far, compared with 31 per cent who disagreed and 25 per cent who did not know. The survey found support for the movement broadly decreases with age, with 60 per cent of over-65s opposed compared with 27 per cent of 18 to 24-year-olds.

It also found just 36 per cent of women would be happy to use mixedsex lavatories compared with 52 per cent of men. More than four in 10 adults said they would not be happy to use changing facilities in a sports club or swimming pool in which transgender people who had not had surgical intervention were admitted, compared with 36 per cent who would be happy to).

The general public was broadly split over whether children should be encouraged from an early age to live out the gender with which they feel most comfortable, with 37 per cent agreeing, and 34 disagreeing.

Most adults welcomed the move to ensure that transgender people were more widely accepted in society (62 per cent) while one in five said they disagreed (18 per cent) and a similar proportion (21 per cent) did not know.

The poll revealed that two in five people aged 35 to 44 do not feel able to express their views about transgender issues for fear of being attacked for being a bigot (40 per cent), compared to fewer than three in 10 of those aged 1824 who say the same (28 per cent).

The findings come a week after Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, announced a review of NHS rules that allow transgender patients to be treated on women’s wards even if they have not undergone medical transition. In January, an investigation by The

Daily Telegraph revealed that hospitals routinely allow male patients to share female wards if they self-identify as women.