{"id":2454047,"date":"2025-06-30T20:44:01","date_gmt":"2025-07-01T00:44:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/martina-navratilova-defends-j-k-rowling-in-ongoing-trans-rights-debate-washington-examiner\/"},"modified":"2025-06-30T20:46:00","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T00:46:00","slug":"martina-navratilova-defends-j-k-rowling-in-ongoing-trans-rights-debate-washington-examiner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/martina-navratilova-defends-j-k-rowling-in-ongoing-trans-rights-debate-washington-examiner\/","title":{"rendered":"Martina Navratilova defends J.K. Rowling in ongoing trans rights debate &#8211; Washington Examiner"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fmartina-navratilova-defends-j-k-rowling-in-ongoing-trans-rights-debate-washington-examiner%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2454047&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Tennis legend Martina Navratilova has <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >entered teh ongoing debate<\/a> over transgender rights by defending J.K. Rowling while criticizing actor Pedro Pascal, known for his roles in &#8220;The Mandalorian&#8221; and the upcoming &#8220;Fantastic Four&#8221; film. This public spat resumed following Pascal&#8217;s June remarks in a &#8220;Vanity Fair&#8221; interview where he criticized Rowling, referencing support for his transgender sibling, Lux. Pascal condemned Rowling&#8217;s viewpoints as &#8220;bully&#8221; behavior, which arose after her <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/why-this-average-american-is-voting-for-donald-trump\/\" title=\"Why This Average American Is Voting for Donald Trump\">social media<\/a> post celebrated a ruling defining &#8220;woman&#8221; based on biological sex. <\/p>\n<p>Navratilova, a noted advocate for women&#8217;s sports and a critic of trans women in female athletic categories, took to social media to voice her support for Rowling and to chastise Pascal, expressing frustration over his comments directed at women. While Pascal&#8217;s stance has been well-received by many in the LGBTQ+ community, it has also faced backlash from individuals like Navratilova, who argue for maintaining biological sex as a basis for policies in areas such as sports. Rowling remains firm in her beliefs,asserting that advocating for women&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-woke-are-not-zany-guests-they-are-home-invasion-robbers-abigail-shrier-fires-back-at-woke-movement\/\" title=\"\u2018The Woke Are Not Zany Guests. They Are Home-Invasion Robbers\u2019: Abigail Shrier Fires Back At \u2018Woke\u2019 Movement\">sex-based rights<\/a> is not inherently transphobic.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Martina Navratilova defends J.K. Rowling, slams &lsquo;Fantastic Four&rsquo; star in ongoing trans rights debate<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_2162296\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>Tennis legend Martina Navratilova is jumping into the culture war again, this time defending <em>Harry Potter<\/em> author <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/j-k-rowling\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"J.K. Rowling\">J.K. Rowling<\/a> and sharply criticizing Marvel actor Pedro Pascal amid a renewed public spat over transgender rights.<\/p>\n<p>The exchange began after Pascal, star of <em>The Mandalorian<\/em> series and the upcoming <em>Fantastic Four<\/em> film, reignited criticism of Rowling in a June<em> Vanity Fair<\/em> interview, citing his support for his transgender sibling, Lux Pascal.<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommended-stories\">\n<h2>Recommended Stories<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/entertainment\/3457494\/death-to-the-idf-chant-glastonbury-music-festival\/\">Death threat to IDF chanted at Glastonbury music festival prompts online outrage<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/entertainment\/3455466\/kyle-rittenhouse-disappears-from-social-media\/\">Kyle Rittenhouse disappears from social media<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/entertainment\/3454554\/rogan-confronts-sanders-climate-change-taxes-billionaire-donations\/\">Rogan confronts Sanders on climate change, taxes, and billionaire donations<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>&ldquo;Bullies make me f&mdash;&mdash; sick,&rdquo; Pascal <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vanityfair.com\/hollywood\/story\/pedro-pascal-cover-story\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"said\">said<\/a> to <em>Vanity Fair<\/em>. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a situation that deserves the utmost elegance so that something can actually happen.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The comment came in response to Rowling&rsquo;s April social media post celebrating a U.K. Supreme Court ruling that upheld the legal definition of &ldquo;woman&rdquo; as based on biological sex. Rowling posted a photo of herself smoking a cigar with a whiskey glass in hand, <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/jk_rowling\/status\/1912644919103004807\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"captioned\">captioned<\/a>: &ldquo;I love it when a plan comes together.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I love it when a plan comes together.<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/SupremeCourt?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#SupremeCourt<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/WomensRights?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#WomensRights<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/agOkWmhPgb\">pic.twitter.com\/agOkWmhPgb<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jk_rowling\/status\/1912644919103004807?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 16, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p> <script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>    <\/p>\n<p>Pascal responded at the time, calling it &ldquo;awful disgusting SH&ndash;&rdquo; and &ldquo;heinous LOSER behavior&rdquo; in a now widely shared <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/CultureCrave\/status\/1915472368761503853\/photo\/2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"comment\">comment<\/a> on Instagram.<\/p>\n<p>Navratilova, a long-standing advocate for women&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/sports\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"sports\">sports<\/a> and a critic of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biological-male-swimmer-defends-competing-unfairly-in-womens-sports-i-am-happy\/\" title=\"Biological Male Swimmer Defends Competing Unfairly in Women\u2019s Sports: \u201cI Am Happy\u201d\">trans women competing<\/a> in female athletic categories, backed Rowling and fired back at Pascal on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-new-acting-attorney-general-jeff-rosen-recently-wrote-an-essay-on-foreign-influence-in-us-elections-this-tells-us-a-little-about-his-knowledge-of-whats-going-on-today\/\" title=\"The New Acting Attorney General Jeff Rosen Recently Wrote an Essay on Foreign Influence in US Elections \u2013 This Tells Us A Little About His Knowledge of What\u2019s Going On Today\">social media platform<\/a> X, formerly Twitter.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Another Johnny come lately telling women to STFU,&rdquo; she <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Martina\/status\/1939132173711204436\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"posted\">posted<\/a>, referencing Pascal&rsquo;s comments.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Another Johnny come lately telling women to STFU <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/nzd5MeXKC1\">https:\/\/t.co\/nzd5MeXKC1<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Martina Navratilova (@Martina) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Martina\/status\/1939132173711204436?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 29, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>    <\/p>\n<p>Though a lifelong Democrat and no fan of President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/donald-trump\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Donald Trump\">Donald Trump<\/a>, she has previously criticized her own party, writing that Democrats &ldquo;totally failed women and girls&rdquo; by not defending female-only sports.<\/p>\n<p>Pascal, known for his roles in<em> Game of Thrones<\/em>, <em>The Last of Us<\/em>, and<em> The Mandalorian<\/em>, is preparing to lead Marvel&rsquo;s <em>Fantastic Four: First Step<\/em>s as Reed Richards\/Mister Fantastic. The film, releasing July 25, marks his entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe in a central role that will continue through <em>Avengers: Doomsday<\/em> and <em>Avengers: Secret Wars<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>While Pascal&rsquo;s comments have been embraced by many in the LGBT community and among Democrats, they have also drawn pushback from fans and critics like Navratilova, who argue that biological sex must remain the basis for policies in areas like sports and prisons.<\/p>\n<p>Rowling, for her part, has remained unapologetic in her views. She has consistently argued that defending sex-based rights for women is not transphobic.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/immigration\/3456187\/zohran-mamdani-money-from-groups-help-illegal-immigrants-avoid-deportation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>ZOHRAN MAMDANI TOOK MONEY FROM GROUPS THAT HELP ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS AVOID DEPORTATION<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>While Pascal acknowledged his comments could stir controversy, he told <em>Vanity Fair <\/em>he is compelled to speak out for those under attack.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Listen, I want to protect the people I love,&rdquo; he said, referencing his sibling. &ldquo;But it goes beyond that.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_2162296\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"2162296\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Martina Navratilova defends J.K. Rowling and criticizes Pedro Pascal in the ongoing transgender rights debate<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2678,"featured_media":2454048,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Pedro-Pascal.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[3896,58204,52888,50772,32076],"class_list":["post-2454047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-debate","tag-j-k-rowling","tag-martina-navratilova","tag-trans-rights-2","tag-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Pedro-Pascal.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2454047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2678"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2454047"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2454047\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2454051,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2454047\/revisions\/2454051"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2454048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2454047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2454047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2454047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}