Martina Navratilova criticizes Donald Trump after President-elect dismisses controversial transgender women issue

Martina Navratilova has once again inserted herself in the trans-women conversation by reacting to what president-elect Donald Trump said when asked about it. The president, who will assume office next month, ran on a platform that promised to 'protect' women by promising to tackle the 'issue' of 'men' competing in women's sports.

In a recent interview, Trump was asked about the trans 'issue' and he responded that he didn't want to get into the whole bathroom issue nor did he want to waste time on that topic in general. He feels that the country needs to move forward with 'real issues' as opposed to issues that affect a minority of people. Navratilova wasted no time reacting to that on X, saying:

"Wow. Shows just how much thought he has given this"

Some have accused the former president of running on an anti-trans platform, which was vehemently denied by the campaign. Navratilova has gotten her fair share of criticism for her stances, but it's an issue she feels deeply about and she keeps talking about it.

Trump ran his campaign to appeal to the overwhelmingly conservative electorate, though it doesn't seem it's a thing of huge importance for him. Navratilova herself is not a fan of Trump and has heavily criticized both him and his campaign on numerous issues, but on this one they aligned and perhaps there was hope from Navratilova's side that he would follow up on his promises.

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Martina Navratilova's activism

Martina Navratilova has been quite politically engaged from the time she became a US citizen. Though not native to the country, she lives and spends a lot of time there and frequently talks about several topics across the spectrum.

More recently, she's been in the news for her 'radical feminist' beliefs and anti-trans athletes rhetoric. This has lost her a lot of fans in the LGBTQI+ community which hailed her as a role model and champion even before she was accepted by the mainstream several years after her coming out.

Most of her activism so far has revolved around interviews and commentary on X such as the one above. When it comes to her anti-trans stances, Navratilova is simply against trans athletes in sports because to her, that is a competitive advantage.

She supports trans people in principle, which she has confirmed multiple times. As for Trump, she has made her opposition clear in several instances.