Tennis legend Martina Navratilova is amplifying an unsupported claim that the WNBA is secretly hiding the existence of a transgender woman playing in the league. Navratilova, an 18-time Grand Slam singles champion, responded Aug. 30 to an X post claiming the public cannot know whether any WNBA players were assigned male at birth.
“Exactly. And that’s on purpose, most likely,” Navratilova wrote. When another user claimed there was “one per rumor,” she replied, “Point is nobody knows.”
Navratilova offered no evidence that a transgender woman currently plays in the league.
She’s made no secret of her sentiments, despite the fact she hired transgender tennis player Renée Richards to serve as her personal coach in 1981. The two worked together through 1983, and Richards helped Navratilova secure multiple grand slam titles, including two Wimbledon championships. They reportedly maintain a friendship even today.
Navratilova’s speculation echoes claims from Patrick Bet-David, a minority owner of the New York Yankees and conservative media personality, who suggested the WNBA may be reluctant to adopt genetic testing because it could reveal players who would not meet such eligibility requirements. Bet-David acknowledged he was offering a theory and provided no evidence to support it.
Navratilova has advocated for athletes in women’s sports to undergo a one-time cheek swab to test for the SRY gene, similar to a policy adopted by the Women’s Tennis Association. But there is no evidence that the WNBA is concealing a transgender player. The Washington Post reported in August that no transgender woman has ever appeared on a WNBA roster. The league has said there are “no immediate eligibility matters affecting the WNBA” and criticized “bad-faith efforts” to use the issue to demean or marginalize people.
For Navratilova, the controversy is part of a years-long conflict with other LGBTQ+ advocates over transgender inclusion. Navratilova came out publicly as bisexual in 1981 and later identified as a lesbian, becoming one of the most prominent openly gay athletes in professional sports. She has spent decades advocating for gay and lesbian rights.
In 2019, however, Navratilova faced criticism from within the LGBTQ+ community after writing that allowing trans women to compete against cisgender women was “insane” and “cheating.”
Athlete Ally, an LGBTQ sports advocacy organization for which Navratilova had served as an ambassador and advisory board member, subsequently cut ties with her. The organization said her comments perpetuated myths that transgender women have an inherent advantage in sports and accused her of reinforcing stereotypes that have long been used to discriminate against women and LGBTQ+ people.
Navratilova later apologized for using the word “cheating,” while maintaining her opposition to transgender women competing in women’s sports.
Seven years later, the latest controversy illustrates an unresolved divide within the LGBTQ+ community at a time when transgender people have increasingly become the focus of political and cultural battles.
Navratilova’s own history also underscores the stakes of that division. The rights and acceptance enjoyed by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people have never advanced uniformly, and victories for one part of the community have not insulated another from discrimination.
For LGBTQ+ communities, the debate is therefore about more than who qualifies to play professional basketball. It also raises a familiar question: What happens to a community built through solidarity when some of its most prominent members lend their voices to unsupported claims about others within it?
This story is brought to you by Rosedale Health and Wellness and Dudley’s Place.
