It's Time For Martina Navratilova To Put Her Vote Where Her Mouth Is | Amber Harding
I'm going to go ahead and say it: I'm getting tired of Martina Navratilova.
Not long ago, I was a fan. Sure, the tennis legend is a card-carrying Democrat. But she's also an outspoken critic of radical gender ideology and has not been afraid to rally against the participation of trans-identifying males in women's sports.
So despite the fact that we might disagree on some political issues, I know that Martina and I could come together to support one simple, common sense stance: Men cannot be women.
The problem, though, is that Navratilova seems incapable of reciprocating this sort of bipartisanship.
Martina Navratilova
(Susan Mullane-Imagn Images)
On Monday, Navratilova responded to a post on X where Rep. Becca Balint, a Democrat from Vermont, voiced her support for "women to be protected, uplifted, seen, heard, thriving, and free in this country." The accompanying photo included transgender Delaware state Sen. Sarah McBride, who is a proud member of the Democratic Women's Caucus despite being a biological male.
"How do you fight for women, when you cannot define what a woman is? Answer — you can’t," Navratilova wrote above the post. "And if you can’t define what a woman is, you will lose many democratic women, myself included, as voters."
On one hand, I'm saying, Hell yeah, Martina! You take that stand!
But on the other hand, I know she's all talk.
Martina Navratilova Hates Republicans More Than She Loves Women’s Rights
I can't stand tribal politics — this idea that you have to stick with your "team" no matter how idiotic the policy that your team is pushing. And Martina Navratilova is a prime example of this behavior.
Sure, she occasionally calls out Democrats for their gender nonsense. For example, just last month, Navratilova said she was "mad" that Republicans have tackled this hot-button topic rather than Democrats, the party to which she has loyally hitched her wagon.
READ: Martina Navratilova Calls Out Democrats For Stance On Trangenders In Sports
And last summer, the former tennis star even admitted that she, too, has been a victim of political tribalism. Despite being an "out" lesbian since 1981, Navratilova explained that she is often seen as an enemy to the LGBTQ community because of her stance against transgender athletes in women's sports.
"'You're a bigot. You're a transphobe. You're a Nazi. You're a fascist. You're a communist.' Anything and everything in between," Navratilova said of the name-calling she receives. "And this is coming from the Left. I am the Left. My people are turning on me, and they're turning on us, women who speak up for women's sex-based rights."
But that's how it works with the extreme left-wing. If you're not 100% with them, you're 100% against them.
And Martina — even though she might not admit it — is guilty of that same black-and-white thinking.
Martina Navratilova encouraged her followers to vote against Donald Trump.
(Photo by Hector Vivas/Getty Images for WTA)
Throughout the 2024 election cycle, Navratilova routinely attacked now-President Donald Trump and actively encouraged her followers to vote for Joe Biden and, subsequently, Kamala Harris. She refused to speak with a reporter from OutKick and even berated him during an event in Washington, D.C. And she blindly supported all Democrats running for office and spewed vitriol at their Republican opponents — all while claiming the protection of women in sports as her deepest passion.
Nevermind the fact that her precious Biden Administration tried to rewrite Title IX to recognize gender identity over biological sex. Or that Democratic lawmakers are pushing for children to undergo sex-change surgeries and hormone replacement therapy without the consent or even the knowledge of their parents. And never mind the fact that House Democrats — all of them — voted against protecting women's sports and women's private spaces last summer.
No, none of that matters. Because, in Martina's world, conservatives are the bad guys.
Inauguration Day Has Martina Navratilova In A Tizzy
Donald Trump was officially sworn in as the 47th President of the United States on Monday, and Navratilova did not take it well. Her X timeline is full of posts and re-posts attacking Trump and his supporters.
She causally threw around words like fascist, authoritarian, Nazi, weirdos, cultists, Hitler. You know, the same, tired, disingenuous buzzwords that most Americans have seen straight through — as evidenced by the Republicans' landslide victory in the 2024 Election.
And it doesn't matter to Martina that it's the Republicans who are fighting for the rights of female athletes, who will go on record saying that biology is real, and who confidently know what a woman is.
Martina Navratilova needs to get over her hatred of conservatives.
(Photo by Hector Vivas/Getty Images for WTA)
To be clear, I have a lot of respect for Martina as a human. She's a cancer survivor and an incredible athlete with a staggering 59 Grand Slam titles to her name. Her accomplishments give her a powerful platform to bridge the gap between the political Left and Right when it comes to privacy and safety for women.
Instead, though, Navratilova is so blinded by her obedience to her Democratic overlords — or rather, her disdain for conservatives — that she simply refuses to find common ground on an issue that, supposedly, means the most to her.
So she keeps shilling for the people who actively work against her best interests while vilifying those who fight in favor of them.
If Martina and I sat down together over a cup of coffee, she'd find we have a lot more in common than not. She'd find that — even though I work for (gasp) OutKick — we could reach across the invisible party lines that separate us, and we'd get along just fine. We might even agree on plenty of things!
But that'll never happen. Because, at least up to this point, Martina's allegiance to her "party" is more important to her than her support for women. And that's a shame.