Martina Navratilova has come to the defence of JK Rowling, in the wake of the author’s row with actor Pedro Pascal. Pascal had referred to Rowling as a bully in a recent Vanity Fair interview, referring to the Harry Potter creator’s views on transgenderism. Rowling had shared several images of her celebrating the British Supreme Court’s ruling that trans women could not be legally defined as women.
JK Rowling’s views have been long-entrenched. She believes that only biological women should enjoy legal status as female and has often opined that women-only spaces should be reserved solely for those born female. On the other hand, Pedro Pascal believes that the transgender community deserves respect and acceptance.
Pascal’s younger sister, Lux, is transgender, and in the Vanity Fair interview, he attacked Rowling’s behavior after the Supreme Court ruling on Instagram, stating:
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"Heinous LOSER behavior."
18-time singles champion Martina Navratilova is a long-time advocate for keeping transgender athletes out of women's sport. As such, she's a supporter of JK Rowling's views. She responded on X to the suggestion that Pascal had shut Rowling down:
"Another Johnny come lately telling women to STFU"
Navratilova has close to 460,000 X followers, and her status as a sporting superstar ensures her voice is listened to. Rowling, however, has an enormous 14.3 million X devotees.
Martina Navratilova's stance on transgender athletes in sport is well-established
Martina Navratilova has a well-known liberal politics, but, like Rowling, her stance on transgender athletes has often been criticized as illiberal. She has always defended women's as well as LGBTQ rights. The tennis superstar views transgenderism in sport through the lens of women's rights.
Navratilova has often stated that, in her view, a level playing field is impossible to achieve for women competing against transgender athletes. Navratilova spoke to Express.co.uk in 2024, and told them her views are sincerely held, if not always popular:
"Yes, it's been pretty rough, but I know I'm on the right side of history. I'm right on most people's opinion about women's sex-based spaces, and especially sports. They need to stay female but the politics have been kind of crazy about that."
Martina Navratilova's tennis credentials are unrivalled: she was World No. 1 for 332 weeks during a 32-year career. With 18 Major singles titles to her name, many regard the Czech-born naturalized US citizen to be tennis's greatest ever female player.
