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Martina Navratilova voiced her strong disagreement with the concept of 'tolerable unfairness' against transgender inclusion in sports.
Navratilova, a staunch advocate for women’s rights in sports, has been vocal about her concerns regarding the potential unfair advantage transgender women might have over cisgender women in sports.
The article that got Navratilova's attention proposed that sports organizations take a fair-minded approach to including transgender individuals, even without solid scientific evidence. It suggested creating standards for what was acceptable in terms of fairness and safety.
This approach recognizes that the world isn't as simple as just male or female, acknowledging individuals who don't fit neatly into these categories. This includes people born with natural variations in sex traits and transgender individuals who don't identify with the sex they were assigned at birth.
The article suggested that since there was no clear scientific evidence, sports organizations should take a fair approach that respects everyone's rights. It proposes that rather than outrightly excluding transgender athletes, sports bodies should establish standards for what can be deemed as tolerable unfairness' and permissible safety risks.
Navratilova, a tennis legend and an outspoken critic of transgender inclusion in women’s sports, however, dismissed the idea outright in her X (formerly Twitter) post on Monday, March 25.
"There is no such thing as Tolerable Unfairness! Stop making it about non-females when it comes to female sports!!! We are sick of it! Also- there is plenty of robust data- it’s called records and results and different %s of male advantage for different sports. Just stop it!" Navratilova wrote.
"This is not against trans athletes. This is against male bodies competing as women if they identify as women" - Martina Navratilova clarifies her stance on trans inclusion in women's sports
Martina Navratilova clarified her stance, emphasizing opposition to "male bodies competing as women" rather than trans athletes overall.
Despite criticism labeling her as transphobic, the 67-year-old defended her viewpoint on the 'On with Kara Swisher' podcast.
"We are not against trans athletes. We are for women athletes to compete on as level a playing field as possible, which means the males who now identify as women, should compete in a male category and women who identify as men but don't take testosterone can compete as women. Because there is still no advantage physically over other women athletes," Martina Navratilova said.
The 18-time Grand Slam champion maintains that her concern is with biologically male athletes leveraging physical advantages in women's sports.
"I'm all for trans rights on a civil level, a hundred percent. And this is not against trans athletes. This is against male bodies competing as women if they identify as women. Many sports don't even have any mitigation, any allowance for lowering the testosterone level, et cetera," Martina Navratilova said.
