Martina Navratilova sends a VERY clear one-word response to Megan Rapinoe after the American soccer star claimed she would welcome a trans player to the USWNT
Tennis icon Martina Navratilova has responded to Megan Rapinoe’s claims that trans women should be allowed to participate in women’s sport, ahead of the soccer star’s fourth and final World Cup appearance later this month.
Earlier this month, Rapinoe, 38, revealed that she would have no problem playing with a transgender soccer player on the US women’s national team, while confessing that she always thought former President Donald Trump wanted her.
When her comments went viral, Navratilova, who won 18 major singles titles in her prime, chimed in with a one-word response that made her feelings clear.
“Wow,” he tweeted.
The 66-year-old former professional American tennis player of Czech origin is openly gay – like Rapinoe – and has been married to former Russian model Julia Lemigova since 2014. She is a strong supporter of the LGBT community, although she has previously expressed that she only wants women to biological women participate in women’s sports.
Martina Navratilova opposes Megan Rapinoe on the debate of trans women in women’s sport
Rapinoe has made it clear that she is against the Law for the Protection of Girls and Women in Sport
In the spring, she even sided with World Athletics for pushing a policy that excludes transgender athletes from internationally recognized women’s competitions, calling it a “step in the right direction.”
‘Following the World Athletics announcement, I think the best idea would be to have ‘biological female’ and ‘biological girls’ categories and then an ‘open’ category, she shared in an op-ed in The Times – a British national newspaper with headquarters in London.
However, Rapinoe finds herself on the other side of the much talked about debate and even signed a letter with 39 professional athletes to the House in April opposing the Protection of Girls and Women in Sport Act.
Their main argument is that the bill would prevent women and girls from receiving ‘mental and physical health benefits’, regardless of whether they are biological or trans women.
“It’s particularly frustrating when women’s sports are weaponized,” Rapinoe told Time magazine. ‘Oh, now we care about justice? Do we care about women’s sports now? That’s total bulls***. And show me all the trans people who are taking nefarious advantage of being trans in sports.
“It’s just not happening.”
Navratilova, who like Rapinoe is an openly gay sports icon, is pictured winning Wimbledon.
Rapinoe hopes to be part of the first men’s or women’s team to win three World Cups in a row
Rapinoe received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Joe Biden on July 22
The two-time World Cup winner (2015, 2019) also clarified her reasoning behind her stance on accepting a transgender woman to replace a biological woman on the US women’s national team.
‘You’re taking the place of a ‘real’ woman, that’s the part of the plot that’s still extremely transphobic. I see trans women as real women, Rapinoe said. ‘What you’re automatically saying in the argument, you’re already saying to yourself, is that you don’t believe these people are women.
‘Therefore, they are taking the other place. I don’t feel like that.
Rapinoe hopes to reach new heights in sports at the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand later this month as she aims to be part of the first women’s or men’s team to win international competition three times in a row.
In addition, the forward announced her intentions to retire at the end of the 2023 season of the National Women’s Soccer League.
Throughout her brilliant career, Rapinoe won an Olympic gold medal (London 2012), two World Cups and the women’s Ballon d’Or (2019). She also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Joe Biden last year.
The Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand begins on July 20.
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