Tennis legend Martina Navratilova says Democrats had a chance to listen about transgender athletes and women’s sex-based rights.
They didn’t.
Navratilova, an 18-time Grand Slam singles champion and one of the most prominent openly gay athletes in sports history, told OutKick in a recent interview that she attempted to get a message to Kamala Harris as Republicans hammered Democrats over the issue of transgender athletes and women’s sex-based rights during the 2024 election.
“I tried to get to Kamala Harris’ campaign,” Navratilova told OutKick. “Nobody would listen to me.”
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OutKick contacted Harris’ office and a former senior communications official for Harris’ 2024 campaign seeking comment on Navratilova’s claim. Neither responded.
For Navratilova, that wasn’t just a campaign problem. It was a Democratic Party problem.
She said the silence from Democrats does not reflect what many of them say privately.
“The politicians, I’ve spoken to some of them, Democrats, and they agree with me. But they said, ‘If I say so publicly, I will get primaried. I will not get reelected,’” Navratilova said.
That leaves Democratic leaders stuck between voters and activists, according to Navratilova.
“Most Democratic voters agree that this is not okay,” Navratilova said. “They are against all inclusion and self-ID, and they are for women, but Democrats don’t see how they’re throwing women under the bus this way, and it’s just infuriating.”
Polling has shown the issue cuts across party lines. A January 2025 New York Times/Ipsos survey found 67% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning respondents said biological males who identify as girls or women should not be allowed to compete in women’s sports.
Navratilova is not speaking as a conservative outsider.
Navratilova has been publicly out since 1981 and spent decades advocating for gay rights. She still considers herself part of the left.
That’s part of what makes her warning so pointed.
Navratilova said she tried to reach Harris’ campaign through a person connected to the campaign, but couldn’t break through. She said advocates for women’s sex-based rights have run into the same barrier when trying to speak with Democratic lawmakers.
“When we try to get a meeting with the Democratic senators and congresspeople, the staff won’t let us through,” Navratilova said. “They’re young people, and they are the ones that control everybody. And they’re the ones that are telling them what’s what.”
Navratilova said part of the problem is that Democrats often want to avoid conflict at all costs.
“I mean, we’re Democrats, we want to make everybody happy, right?” Navratilova said. “And women, particularly, they’re taught to be that way, so we don’t want to make anybody mad and upset and hurt, but they’re not seeing the other side, that they’re actually hurting so many women on this front.”
That is the heart of the issue, according to Navratilova.
Democrats can talk about inclusion, but biological males entering women’s sports creates consequences for female athletes. It costs them roster spots, podium spots, championships and opportunities.
And Navratilova said those consequences are not limited to college or professional sports.
“It starts at the high school level,” Navratilova said.
She pointed to high school athlete AB Hernandez, who won California high school girls’ high jump and triple jump titles in 2025 and defended both state titles in 2026, and other recent cases involving trans-identifying male athletes winning girls’ state championships.
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“It’s not just one-off,” Navratilova said. “It doesn’t matter how many because one affects everybody around them.”
And even one athlete, she argued, can change much more than an individual result.
“Whether they’re on their team or on the opposing team, they win the school championship because the boy won the high jump and now everybody on that team wins and the other team loses because it was not a fair fight,” Navratilova said.
Republicans have repeatedly hit Democrats over transgender issues, particularly on biological males in women’s sports. Navratilova said Democrats should not expect that to stop.
“Look how much Trump is bringing it up every chance he gets,” Navratilova said. “They are going to keep using it.”
One of Trump’s 2024 attack ads targeted Harris over statements she made during the 2019 Democratic primary supporting access to gender-transition procedures for prisoners and detainees, and closed with a simple message: “Kamala’s agenda is they/them, not you.”
The ad became one of the clearest examples of what Navratilova says Democrats failed to confront.
“They used it,” Navratilova said. “They’re very clever, and it was used against the Democrats in a very effective way.”
According to the Associated Press, Harris Deputy Campaign Manager Quentin Fulks called the Trump ad “very effective” and said it made Harris “seem out of touch.”
Navratilova’s point is not that the ad alone cost Harris the election. It’s that Democrats made themselves vulnerable on an issue that many voters see as clear-cut.
“I have had so many people say to me, if they can’t say what a woman is, how can I trust them on anything else?” Navratilova said. “Honestly, it’s just so obvious.”
She added that the problems go beyond sports.
In her view, Democrats and progressive activists have allowed women’s spaces, awards and opportunities to be redefined in ways that often elevate biological males who identify as women, not females who identify as men.
Sarah McBride became the first openly transgender member of Congress after being sworn in to represent Delaware’s lone House seat. Rachel Levine became the highest-ranking openly transgender federal official in U.S. history after being confirmed as assistant secretary for health under former President Joe Biden.
Dylan Mulvaney, a transgender influencer, was named Woman of the Year by Attitude magazine after the Bud Light controversy.
That is the dynamic Navratilova is talking about.
“Guess who is getting the prizes? Guess who is getting the positions of power?” Navratilova said. “Where is the congresswoman here, or a board of directors here, or head of this charity, or this beauty pageant? It’s always males coming into women’s spaces. It’s not the other way around.”
That is why Navratilova believes Democrats are making both a moral mistake and a political one. They are not just losing an argument, she said. They are refusing to have it.
Navratilova tried to warn the Harris campaign.
She says Democratic politicians privately know there’s a problem. But publicly, she says, the party keeps choosing activists over women. And Republicans, Navratilova warned, will keep taking advantage of it.
“If they can’t say what a woman is, how can I trust them on anything else?”
