Martina Navratilova’s one-word response to Megan Rapinoe on welcoming a trans player on the USWNT 

Tennis icon Martina Navratilova has responded to Megan Rapinoe’s claims that trans women should be allowed to participate in women’s sports ahead of the soccer star’s fourth and final World Cup appearance later this month.

Earlier this month, the 38-year-old Rapinoe revealed she would have no problem playing with a trans soccer player on the US women’s national team, while also confessing that she always thought ex-President Donald Trump adored her.

When her comments went viral, Navratilova, who won 18 major singles titles in her prime, chimed in with a one-word response that made her feelings clear.

“Yikes,” she tweeted.

The Czech-born American former professional tennis player, 66, is openly gay — like Rapinoe — and has been married to former Russian model Julia Lemigova since 2014. She is a staunch defender of the LGBT community, although she has previously said she only wants biological women to participate in women’s sports.

In the spring, she even sided with World Athletics for pushing for a policy that excludes transgender female athletes from internationally recognized women’s competitions, calling it a “step in the right direction.”

“In the wake of the World Athletics announcement, I think it would be the best idea to have categories of ‘organic women’ and ‘organic girls’ and then an ‘open’ category,” she shared in an op-ed. ed in The Times – a British daily national newspaper based in London.

Rapinoe, however, is on the other side of the much-publicized debate, even co-signing a letter with 39 professional athletes to the House in April opposing the Protection of Girls and Women in Sports Act.

Her main argument is that the bill would prevent women and girls from receiving “mental and physical health benefits,” regardless of whether they are biological or trans women.

“It’s especially frustrating when women’s sports are gunned down,” Rapinoe told Time magazine. “Oh, now we care about fairness? Now do we care about women’s sports? Those are total bulls***. And show me all the trans people who take advantage of being trans in sports.

“It’s just not happening.”

Rapinoe, a two-time World Cup winner, also clarified the reasoning behind her stance on accepting a transgender woman to replace a biological woman on the US women’s national team.

You’re taking the place of a ‘real’ woman, that’s the part of the argument that’s still extremely transphobic. I see trans women as real women,” Rapinoe said. “What you’re automatically saying in the discussion — you kind of tell yourself already — is that you don’t believe these people are women.

“That’s why they take the other place. I don’t feel that way.’

Trans women participating in women’s sports is a highly controversial topic that has dominated headlines for many years, and the debate is only growing.

Critics say going through puberty as a boy provides many trans women with significant biological advantages that can make it impossible for women to beat them.

Supporters point to hormone guidelines that are meant to level the playing field, but some studies show that they still don’t erase trans women’s inherent advantage.

There are also concerns that in contact sports such as football, allowing trans women to play could potentially cause more serious injuries.

Swimmer Lia Thomas is arguably the most high-profile trans athlete in the world, having competed in men’s swim competitions through 2020, before transitioning to the women’s team and winning an NCAA Division I national championship title.

Thomas has been the subject of much hate online, with several detractors coming forward to voice their dismay at her ability to compete with biological women.

Last month, a University of North Carolina swimmer claimed she was forced to undress in a storage closet to avoid getting naked in front of the trans swimmer.

“Today I met Kylee [Alons]the most decorated swimmer in NC State history, ‘Florida Congressman Greg Steube tweeted.

She told me how she changed in a locker at the NCAA Finals instead of experiencing the sexual harassment that comes with undressing in front of Will “Lia” Thomas — a biological male who insisted on being in the female locker room. are.’

The recognition came as Alons met with lawmakers in Washington to lobby for legislation to stop the inclusion of transgender athletes in female sports.

Alons was in her senior year at the University of North Carolina when she qualified for the 2022 NCAA Championships, the most prestigious college swimming competition in America.

The same year, Thomas, a biological male who identifies as female, caused controversy when she was allowed to use the women’s locker rooms.

She made history as the first transgender woman to win a national title that season, sparking a nationwide debate over the inclusion of transgender athletes in female sports.

Alons’ appearance on Capitol Holl came after Steube sponsored and passed the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act to legislate on the issue of integrating transgender people into sports.

It was reported last month that the vast majority of Americans do not support transgender athletes competing on the team of their choice, instead believing they should compete against people of the same birth sex.

According to a new Gallup survey69 percent of Americans say transgender athletes should only compete on sports teams that match their birth gender, a figure that’s up 7 percent since 2021.

Similarly, only 26 percent of Americans support the idea of ​​transgender athletes playing on teams that match their current gender identity — significantly down from 34 percent two years ago.

The issue has become increasingly political in recent years, especially in the case of transgender women who compete against biological women and often dominate the competition.

Governing bodies of various sports have come to no specific conclusion on how to deal with the controversial issue of allowing transgender athletes to compete.

Experts, researchers, and current and former athletes have argued that even after treatment, trans women maintain a physical advantage over their female counterparts.

Tommy Lundberg, a lecturer in physiology at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute and a leading researcher in the field, previously told DailyMail.com: “The important thing is whether or not you have benefited from male development and male puberty and if you have, you gets benefits that you can’t undo later.’

Lundberg’s landmark 2021 study with Emma Hilton, a developmental biologist at the University of Manchester in the UK, found that men typically have a 10-50 per cent performance advantage over women.

After a trans woman undergoes testosterone suppression for 12 months, the loss of “lean body mass, muscle mass and strength is typically about 5%,” according to the paper.

“The muscle benefit of transgender women is only minimally reduced when testosterone is suppressed,” the study said.

Rapinoe, meanwhile, hopes to reach new heights in the sport at the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand later this month as she aims to be part of the first women’s or men’s team to win international competition three times in a row.

In addition, the striker announced her intention to retire by the end of the 2023 National Women’s Soccer League season.

During her glittering career, Rapinoe has won an Olympic gold medal (London 2012), two World Cups and the Ballon d’Or for women (2019). She also received the President Medal of Freedom from President Joe Biden last year.

The Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand starts on July 20.