Martina Navratilova Says Transgender Women Can’t Be Lesbians

Martina Navratilova, the renowned out tennis star, recently sparked controversy with her remarks on a tribute by Stonewall, a leading LGBTQ+ advocacy group in the U.K. Navratilova took to social media on Tuesday to voice her opposition to the inclusion of a transgender woman in Stonewall’s Lesbian Visibility tribute, bluntly writing, “a bloke cannot be a lesbian.”

The former athlete continued her troubling commentary, “No matter what they say, no matter how they feel, no matter how much they try to convince us otherwise. A bloke≠ a lesbian.”

Sexual orientation and gender identity are not the same.

Related: Megan Rapinoe and Martina Navratilova Spar Over Trans Women in Sports

She made the assertions in response to a video by Stonewall that promoted diversity and inclusion of lesbians from diverse backgrounds, including transgender women who identify as lesbians. The 3-minute video includes a profile of Katie Cornhill, a transgender activist and firefighter who speaks on equality rights.

Her remarks, widely perceived as transphobic, have occurred amidst growing tensions and discussions about inclusivity within the LGBTQ+ community.

Related: Martina Navratilova Tells Daniel Radcliffe to ‘Be Quiet’ on Supporting Transgender Rights

Rodney Wilson, the founder of LGBTQ+ History Month, recently addressed the divisive “LGB without the TQ+” movement in a conversation with The Advocate. Proponents advocate for the exclusion of transgender and other identities from the gay, lesbian, and bisexual community.

Wilson expressed his dismay at such exclusionary trends.

“It’s hard to get my mind around it, honestly. I don’t understand how anyone would want to quite literally cut a group out of a community,” Wilson said. “But to take a knife and cut off a letter that symbolizes an identity that we all need to be educated about, we all need to learn about, is so frustrating and sad to me.”

Wilson explained, “It did not cross my mind in 1994 to call it Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender History Month. But we are supposed to learn and evolve and grow and continue to open ourselves up to new individuals, new understanding, new information, new identities.”