Pollsters say a clear majority of Britons believe transgender women athletes have “unfair physical advantages” over cisgender or non-transgender women athletes, the British newspaper the Telegraph reported. The survey said trans women who compete with cis women are “cheating.”
That’s the word chosen by tennis legend Martina Navratilova in an essay last month in the Sunday Times of London. Her op-ed has since been used by opponents of transgender rights and religious conservatives. Navratilova stopped short of apologizing for calling trans inclusion “cheating” but wrote “I certainly was not suggesting that transgender athletes in general are cheats,” in a blogpost on martinanavratilova.com
However, in the very next sentence, she repeated the fantasy that a male might undergo a gender transition, even temporarily, “to gain a competitive advantage.” She called it a legal “possibility” and then cited the doping scandal that ended Lance Armstrong’s career as “surely instructive.”
And according to the new ComRes survey of more than 2,000 adults in the UK, reported by the Telegraph, 63 percent said they agree with the former Wimbledon champion’s original comment that trans women athletes who competed with cis women are cheaters. Compared that with the 12 percent who disagreed with Navratilova, and 25 percent who responded that they don’t know.
The poll’s margin of error was +/- 2.7, according to ComRes.
Men were far more supportive of the lesbian tennis star’s opinion than women. The pollsters say 70 percent of males, but only 56 percent of females, agreed with Navratilova’s remark about cheating. That’s despite her updating her blog entry earlier this month. The survey was conducted March 6 and 7.
Almost half of British adults — 44 percent — said they believe the transgender rights movement has gone too far, compared to 31 percent who disagree and 25 percent who said they don’t know. The survey found the broadest support came from older Britons, with 60 percent of those aged 65+ opposing the trans movement, compared to 27 percent of 18 to 24-year-olds who felt trans advocates had overstepped.
Another issue identified by Navratilova was the difference between trans women who were post-op and those who, for whatever reason, did not have surgery on their penises and scrotum.
More than four in 10 adults said they would be unhappy if changing facilities in a sports club or swimming pool admitted transgender people who had not had surgical intervention — 43 percent, compared to 36 percent who said they would have no objection.
Ironically, 62 percent of the people who responded to the survey said they welcome the move to ensure that trans people are more widely accepted in society; one in five said they disagreed. About the same number — 21 percent — said they didn’t know.
And 40 percent of those polled, between the ages of 35 to 44, said they’re afraid to say how they feel about trans people in public because they might wind up being a bigot. Among adults aged 18 to 24, 28 percent said they had the same fear.
ComRes told Outsports it surveyed 2,048 adults online on March 6 and 7, according to the Telegraph. You can read the full survey here.
