Tennis great Martina Navratilova is no fan of U.S. Women’s National Team (USWNT) star Megan Rapinoe’s desire to bring male athletes into women’s sports.
In an interview with TIME, Rapinoe was asked for her thoughts on trans athletes in women’s sports. The outspoken leftist railed against the movement to block males from competing in girls’ and women’s sports, claiming that the efforts amounted to an attempt to “legislate away people’s full humanity.” Rapinoe followed up that claim by saying she would be accepting of a male athlete on the U.S. women’s team.
Navratilova, an outspoken opponent of trans inclusion in women’s sports, had a direct yet brief response to Rapinoe: “Yikes,” she wrote.
Martina Navratilova before presenting the winner’s trophy to Iga Swiatek of Poland at the presentation ceremony after the Women’s Singles Final match on Arthur Ashe Stadium during the US Open Tennis Championship 2022 at the USTA National Tennis Centre on September 10th, 2022, in Flushing, Queens, New York City. (Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images)
Rapinoe, who has been every bit as outspoken on the opposite side of the debate, was among 40 athletes who signed on to a letter opposing the Protection of Girls and Women in Sports Act in April.
In her interview with TIME, Rapinoe scoffed at the interest that lawmakers are now taking in women’s sports.
“It’s particularly frustrating when women’s sports is weaponized,” Rapinoe told the magazine. “Oh, now we care about fairness? Now we care about women’s sports? That’s total bulls—. And show me all the trans people who are nefariously taking advantage of being trans in sports. It’s just not happening.”
When asked about accepting a trans player on the U.S. women’s team, Rapinoe was all about it.
“Absolutely,” she said. “‘You’re taking a ‘real’ woman’s place,’ that’s the part of the argument that’s still extremely transphobic. I see trans women as real women. What you’re saying automatically in the argument—you’re sort of telling on yourself already—is you don’t believe these people are women. Therefore, they’re taking the other spot. I don’t feel that way.”
Megan Rapinoe, #15 of the United States, announces her retirement during a press conference at PayPal Park on July 08, 2023, in San Jose, California. (John Todd/USSF/Getty Images for USSF)
The timing of Rapinoe’s exuberant support of trans athletes – especially those who would hypothetically join the USWNT – is highly suspect. Over the weekend, the two-time World Cup winner announced that 2023 would be her final season and her final World Cup. Her retirement from the sport means that she would, in all likelihood, never find herself in the position of having a man take her spot on the roster.
This year’s World Cup starts in only ten days, and the roster is set. So, Rapinoe is in no danger of being bumped from the team for a man.
Her embrace of the radical trans movement, instead, means that she would welcome a man to come in and take another woman’s position at a later date. A rather cowardly stance that few, if any, in the mainstream media have picked up on.
Rapinoe and the rest of the USWNT will begin their quest for another World Cup on July 20 in Australia.