Tennis legend Martina Navratilova hit out at a publication this week over its reporting on the debate surrounding transgender athletes in women sport.
The New York Times published an article on the current controversy sweeping through women’s college volleyball after multiple teams forfeited games against San Jose State University and transgender player Blaire Fleming.
In the article, the outlet used the term ‘non-transgender women’ to refer to biological females when discussing the varying levels of testosterone.
The term triggered a furious backlash from readers on social media – among them, Navratilova, who is one of the most famous gay athletes in the world.
‘NYT- you stink. We are women, not NOT TRANSGENDER WOMEN. Just WOMEN will do in the future,’ the 18-time Grand Slam winner posted on X, responding to a tweet containing screengrabs of the article.
Multiple colleges in the Mountain West Conference have forfeited women’s volleyball matches against San Jose Sate this season. While Fleming, a player for the Spartans who is a biological male, hasn’t been named by the schools many have suggested that safety concerns over playing against a transgender player are behind the decisions.
Martina Navratilova hit out at the New York Times over its reporting of trans athletes
The tennis legend slammed the publication for using the term ‘non-transgender women’
Most recently, Boise State women’s volleyball team forfeited their championship semifinal against SJSU, insisting their players ‘should not have to forgo this opportunity while waiting for a more thoughtful and better system that serves all athletes.’
SJSU will face the winner of Colorado State and San Diego State, who meet in the other semifinal on Friday.
The Spartans player has been at the center of a storm over recent months, with Fleming the subject of lawsuits and accusations that she conspired with a rival to hurt a teammate.
Six SJSU regular season games were ruled no contests after the opposition refused to play and now the Spartans are into the conference championship game.
Earlier this week, Fleming was among those honored in the Mountain West’s postseason award. That is despite the redshirt senior being at the center of a lawsuit involving her own teammates, who sued their head coach, the college and the Mountain West, demanding Fleming be declared ineligible for the Conference tournament.
San Jose State coach Melissa Batie-Smoose, meanwhile, accused the school of trying to ‘silence’ her after she was suspended following complaints about Fleming.
The NCAA is also facing a class-action lawsuit from more than a dozen female athletes, who accuse the organization of knowingly violating a law that prohibits sex-based discrimination.
The awards came after a judge denied a last-minute attempt to ban Fleming from the conference championship tournament as well as from any possible future NCAA Tournament games.
Transgender volleyball player Blaire Fleming has been at the center of a storm in recent months
Boise State women’s volleyball team pulled out of its semifinal against San Jose State
Judge Kato Crews ruled that the lawsuit ‘was not reasonable’ and that it ‘would risk confusion and upend months of planning and would prejudice, at a minimum, (San Jose State) and other teams participating in the tournament.’
Meanwhile, Navratilova previously waded into the gender row currently surrounding women’s sport as she spoke out on Algerian boxer Imane Khelif.
Khelif, along with Taiwan ‘s Lin Yu-ting, was at the center of a gender controversy over the summer when they won Olympic gold as women after being accused of being biologically male.
Earlier this month, the issue over Khelif’s gender was thrust back into the spotlight following a leaked medical report in the German tabloid, Bild , claiming she is a ‘biological male’ and has male characteristics.
The legitimacy of the report has yet to be determined. It was allegedly put together in 2023 via collaboration between French and Algerian expert endocrinologists working at the Kremlin-Bicetre hospital in Paris and the Mohamed Lamine Debaghine hospital in Algiers.
But Navratilova seized upon the unverified report to double down on her claim that the Gold medalist should not have been allowed to compete at the summer games.
‘And her we are,’ Navratilova wrote on X. ‘… Imane might have been raised as a woman but Imane is a biological male and should not have been allowed to box at the Olympics.’
Following the Olympics, Khelif filed a cyberbullying complaint in France that reportedly named critics like JK Rowling and Elon Musk, among others – a legal action that Navratilova poked fun at on X.
‘[Is] Imane still suing JK Rowling?’ Navratilova asked. ‘Good luck with that lawsuit.’
