"Guy has no business competing against females" - Martina Navratilova lauds MMA fighter on defeating trans woman in women's Jiu-Jitsu event

Martina Navratilova, not one to mince her words when it comes to trans women competing in women's sports, has come out in praise of an MMA fighter who defeated a transgender athlete.

Ainsley Wilk, an MMA fighter and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Brown Belt, recently shared her experience of emerging victorious against a transgender woman in an event. She talked about how she was not informed that she would be competing with a transgender woman, which made her feel under-prepared.

After learning about this incident, Martina Navratilova shared her opinion, urging to abolish the rules where transgender women get to compete against biological women. She even congratulated Wilk on the victory while re-sharing the post.

“Well done again Ansleigh- guy has no business competing against females- these rules must change!” Navratilova captioned her post.

Martina Navratilova criticized for remark on transgender lesbians representing the lesbian community at the White House Round Table

Martina Navratilova faces criticsm

At the same time, Martina Navratilova has been on the receiving end of criticism for her opinion on transgender lesbians attending the White House roundtable for Lesbian Visibility Day on behalf of the lesbian community. It was organized to celebrate lesbian leadership in the Biden-Harris Administration to discuss the challenges lesbians and LGBTQI+ women face.

A user had shared a post on X, condemning transgender women representing lesbians.

"Lesbians ARE losing our seat at the table. We were replaced with 2 biological men on Lesbian Visibility Day. In many countries lesbians have had our right to have lesbian-only events, or apps, or online spaces taken away." the user wrote.

Martina Navratilova sided with the user, arguing about how transgender women do not truly represent lesbians. She shared the post with the caption:

"This is just wrong …males who identify as women as not lesbians…"

The tennis great received a lot of support on her take on the incident but many criticized her stance. A user wrote talked about how Martina Navratilova’s take on transgender people is not right.

“Lesbians who don’t accept transgender people is just wrong. They were born that way, just like all the LGBTQ people in this world,” the user wrote.

Another user voiced the problems lesbians face just to find an accommodation for a transgender-lesbian-only rule.

“Meanwhile, here in Melbourne, lesbians were denied a room at the purpose built @VicPrideCentre in order to celebrate international lesbian day. The reason being it was deemed "exclusionary" of trans lesbians. i.e. exclusionary of males!” the user commented.

“I really dig charlotte’s addition to the discussion. Just because she’s not exactly like you, doesn’t mean she shouldn’t have a seat at the table,” a user replied.

“100% The T is a homophobic movement and doesn’t belong being force teamed with LGB people,” one fan tweeted.

“Martina, gender identity and sexual orientation are two different things. One gay be trans/gender non-conforming and also be gay/lesbian/queer. They are not mutually exclusive,” another fan wrote.