"What a ridiculous comparison" - Martina Navratilova on transgender powerlifter’s analogy between anti-trans and racial discrimination

Martina Navratilova recently expressed her outrage at a transgender powerlifter who compared being called a man to being called the 'n-word.'

Anne Andres, who is Alberta Canada’s women’s powerlifting record holder, has faced criticism from some female competitors and sports fans who argue that she has an unfair advantage over biological women due to her male physiology. Andres has won eight of nine competitions entered in the women’s category over the course of the last four years.

The Canadian Powerlifting Union's policy permits athletes to identify their own gender and promises collaboration with transgender competitors to effectively establish, oversee, and, if necessary, adjust this policy.

One of Andres’ outspoken critics is April Hutchinson, an Ontario-based female powerlifter who has voiced her concerns about the fairness and safety of women’s sports in the presence of trans women. Hutchinson had been hoping for a "top five or six" finish in the upcoming Canadian National Championships, a goal that will be more difficult with Andres set to appear on the podium.

Responding to Hutchinson, Andres posted a video where she tearfully criticized the CPU for not punishing Hutchinson and announced withdrawal from the national championships. However, she reversed the decision the very next day.

"Let me just ask one simple and open question to those who are deciding to leave me to my own fate through their inaction," Andres said. "If this other lifter was, say, going after an African-American individual and calling them the n-word, which is essentially equivalent to calling a trans woman a man and referring to them as him."

Martina Navratilova, who had previously criticized Andres for allegedly mocking biologically female powerlifters, shared the video on Tuesday, November 7, calling out the transgender powerlifter for equating anti-trans slurs with racial slurs.

"What a ridiculous comparison…" Navratilova wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

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"Female category was created to provide opportunities for women to compete fairly" - Martina Navratilova highlights the benefits of a separate category for women

Martina Navratilova at the 2016 WTA Finals

Martina Navratilova recently proposed that transgender athletes should either compete with men or have their 'open category' in an essay she wrote for Genspect, a group that is against providing gender-related care.

"They [transgender athletes] can play in the men’s category. The men’s category can be redefined as 'open'. Or they can create their own events, as the Gay Games have done every four years since 1982," Navratilova wrote.

The 18-time Grand Slam champion also said that the reason for having separate categories was to give women a fair chance to win.

"I support any accommodations so long as male athletes do not take participation opportunities or scholarships from female athletes. The female category was created to provide opportunities for women to compete fairly. It was always intended to exclude males. We need to keep excluding them," Martina Navratilova wrote.