Tennis legend Martina Navratilova took a swing once again at NCAA swimmer Lia Thomas — this time for calling out people who claim to be feminists but only “half-support” her as a transgender swimmer.
The Tennis star snapped back at Thomas over Twitter Wednesday, after the swimmer went on a podcast earlier in the week and described those who don’t fully support her right to swim competitively in events designated for women as “transphobic.”
“NEWSFLASH Lia- it’s not fair. We shouldn’t have to explain it to you over and over. Also- stop explaining feminism to feminists….” Navratilova wrote.
Navratilova’s message to Thomas received a largely favorable response on Twitter.
“Glad to see you speaking up for women! I wish @BillieJeanKing would do the same! All the work you’ve both done will be gone if this is allowed to continue! Fighting for women is not ‘transphobic,'” on user wrote on the social media site after the tennis great’s comments.
One person chimed in, “I’m all for everyone living their best life as whoever they want to be. But it in no way is fair for a man to compete in women’s sports,” while another Twitter user noted: “I’d rather be a “transphobe” than a cheat.”
A few others were less thrilled with Navratilova’s take on the issue and stepped forward in Thomas’ defense.
“I’m a feminist and I don’t like how it’s being weaponized against the Trans community either. I agree issues around professional sports are complicated but I’m with Lia on that point,” one user wrote, to which Navratilova replied: “So you’re ok with biological males competing against biological females? I am not.”
The Tennis champ’s fiery tweet follows comments Thomas made during an episode of fellow transgender swimmer Schuyler Bailar’s podcast “Dear Schuyler” released Monday in which Thomas fired back at people who claim to be feminists but do not support transgender athletes, like herself.
They’re like, ‘Oh, we respect Lia, as a woman, as a trans woman or whatever, we respect her identity, we just don’t think it’s fair.’ You can’t really have that sort of half-support where you’re like, ‘Oh, I respect her as a woman here, but not here,’” Thomas said.
“They’re using the guise of feminism to sort of push transphobic beliefs. I think a lot of people in that camp sort of carry an implicit bias against trans people, but don’t want to, I guess, fully manifest or speak that out. And so they try to just play it off as this sort of half-support,” she added.
Navratilova has previously spoken out about how she feels the former University of Pennsylvania swimmer has an unfair advantage in the sport.
In March of last year, Navratilova said that Thomas should have an “asterisk” next to her name in order to separate her from other female athletes.
“It’s not about excluding transgender women from winning ever,” said Navratilova. “But it is about not allowing them to win when they were not anywhere near winning as men.”
“But right now, the rules are what they are. Maybe put an asterisk there, if she starts breaking records left and right,” the nine-time Wimbledon champ said.
A longtime critic of allowing transgender female athletes to compete against cisgender female athletes, Navratilova argued in a London Times op-ed in 2019 that allowing transgender women to compete in women’s sporting tournaments was “insane and cheating.”
Last month, Navratilova praised World Athletics for adopting a policy to exclude transgender female athletes from women’s competitions, calling the move a “step in the right direction” in an op-ed penned in The Times of UK.
“In the wake of World Athletics’ announcement, I think the best idea would be to have ‘biological female’ and ‘biological girls’ categories and then an ‘open’ category,” she wrote. “It would be a category for all-comers: men who identify as men; women who identify as women; women who identify as men; men who identify as women; non-binary — it would be a catch-all. This is already being explored in athletics and swimming in Britain.”
Navratilova argued that female-born athletes would most likely compete in the “biological female” category as it’s their best shot at winning.
“Once somebody has gone through male puberty, there is no way to erase that physical advantage. You cannot simply turn back the clock, for instance by trying to lower testosterone levels.”
Navratilova said in the op-ed that she hoped the decision would lead to other sports following its lead.
