"Just another entitled male" - Martina Navratilova comes to Harry Potter-famed author J. K. Rowling's rescue over controversial gay rights comments

Martina Navratilova spent much of her life fighting for women's rights on and off the court. Even after her retirement, she continues to fight for her beliefs often getting tangled up in social media spats with people criticizing her thoughts. Recently, she once again reinstated her take as she rushed to defend J. K. Rowling, the Harry Potter author who often stands with Navratilova's statements.

The response came as part of a broader conversation that took place on X between Rowling and one of her fans. The discussion began on one of Rowling's X posts where she reshared a podcast screenshot, with the caption:

"Never forget: gender identity isn't about sex stereotypes, but playing around with your hair proves you're not a man."

They conformed to one other's thoughts when a user (named James on X) commented his scathing views and called them "perma victim supporters of 'LGB' Alliance."

Navratilova rushed to the author's defense, writing:

"Speak for yourself as*wipe. Show some respect but then you’re just another entitled male, so full of himself . You can do the f***ing off. It is women’s business after all as in female. So it’s you that needs to butt out."

Martina Navratilova has defended J.K. Rowling before taking similar stands on social media.

Martina Navratilova's journey on this issue

Martina Navratilova has been labeled as transphobic and often used against her; however, she has adamantly denied being one multiple times. The first time Navratilova prominently spoke about this topic was in December of 2018 when she dismissed suggestions that transgender women could play sports in the women category.

"You can’t just proclaim yourself a female and be able to compete against women. There must be some standards, and having male genitalia and competing as a woman would not fit that standard,” Navratilova in 2018.

Navratilova's initial comments were met with backlash, and she promised to do some research on the topic. Following that, she came out even more strongly against it with a column in the Sunday Times in 2019. Since then, she has often expressed her thoughts about it on social media.

“To put the argument at its most basic: a man can decide to be female, take hormones if required by whatever sporting organisation is concerned, win everything in sight and perhaps earn a small fortune, and then reverse his decision and go back to making babies if he so desires." - Navratilova in 2019 Sunday Times column

The topic became worldwide news during the Paris Olympics due to the Imane Khelif saga. That devolved into a broader culture war during the United States elections, and Navratilova never kept quiet during that time.

While a self-described supporter of transgender rights, Navratilova has taken a very firm stance against transgender women competing in women's sports, believing it to be a competitive advantage.