CNN
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Tennis nice Martina Navratilova has come beneath fireplace after claiming it’s a type of “dishonest” for transgender ladies to compete in ladies’s sport.
The 18-time Grand Slam winner he wrote in The Sunday Instances that it was “insane” that “a whole bunch of athletes who’ve modified their gender by declaration and restricted hormone remedy have already achieved honors as ladies that had been past their capabilities as males”.
This isn’t the primary time that Navratilova, a homosexual rights activist who suffered homophobic abuse when she got here out in 1981, has brought on controversy along with her statements about transgender athletes.
In December she was criticized after tweeting: “You’ll be able to’t simply proclaim your self a girl and be capable to compete in opposition to ladies. There must be some requirements, and having a penis and competing as a girl would not match that customary.”
![Martina Navratilova won 18 Grand Slams during her tennis career.](https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/190218094259-martina-navratilova.jpg?q=x_3,y_127,h_1368,w_2431,c_crop)
His feedback led to him being embroiled in an internet spat with bike owner Rachel McKinnon, the primary transgender lady to win a observe biking world title in October 2018.
Navratilova, a nine-time Wimbledon champion, wrote on Sunday that this debate prompted her to go and do extra analysis on the topic, including: “Effectively, I’ve carried out that now and if something, my views have been strengthened.
“To place the argument in its most simple type: a person can resolve to be a girl, take hormones if required by any sports activities group involved, win the whole lot in sight and possibly make a small fortune, after which reverse his choice and take once more.infants if you want.
“It is loopy and it is dishonest. I am joyful to focus on a transgender lady in no matter means she prefers, however I would not be joyful to compete in opposition to her. It would not be truthful.”
Her feedback had been labeled “transphobic” by trans rights group Trans Precise, which he tweeted: “If trans ladies had a bonus in sports activities, why aren’t trans ladies successful gold medals left, proper and heart?”
McKinnon reacted to Navratilova’s article by tweeting: “It’s a wild fantasy fear that’s an irrational concern of one thing that doesn’t occur. An irrational concern of trans folks? Transphobia”.
Navratilova rejected accusations of transphobia and added that she regretted “what appears to be a rising development amongst transgender activists to denounce anybody who argues in opposition to them and label all of them as ‘transphobic'”.
He additionally highlighted his friendship with Renée Richards, the transgender tennis participant who campaigned to play within the US Ladies’s Open.
Underneath present guidelines issued by the Worldwide Olympic Committee in 2016, trans males can compete with out restrictions.
Trans ladies, nonetheless, should show that their testosterone stage has been under a sure stage for a minimum of 12 months earlier than their first competitors.
Navratilova’s feedback got here a day earlier than the case of two-time Olympic 800m champion Caster Semenya went earlier than the Courtroom of Arbitration for Sport on Monday.
![Caster Semenya celebrates with a flag after winning the 800m final during the 2018 Commonwealth Games.](https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/180426112701-caster-semenya.jpg?q=x_10,y_259,h_2811,w_4996,c_crop)
The South African athlete has a situation often known as hyperandrogenism, which implies her testosterone ranges are naturally elevated.
Semenya is contesting a case launched by the game’s governing physique, the Worldwide Affiliation of Athletics Federations (IAAF), which might have pressured limits on testosterone ranges in feminine athletes competing in races between 400 meters and one mile.
The IAAF’s proposal would imply he would wish to take treatment to scale back these ranges.
Her case has already gained the help of the South African authorities and Navratilova, who wrote: “I hope she wins.”
“She by no means took drugs or seemed for benefits,” added Navratilova. “Simply coaching and working.”