The description was included in a story about women’s college volleyball teams forfeiting games against San Jose State University (SJSU), which has a trans player, Blaire Fleming, in its line-up.
SJSU have now advanced to the Mountain West Conference final without playing a single game after another team refused to play them.
In the story, the outlet used the term “non-transgender women” when explaining the sport’s rules on varying levels of testosterone.
This term met with a backlash by readers, among them Navratilova, a feminist campaigner and one of the greatest tennis players of all time.
The 18-time Grand Slam winner posted on X: “NYT – you stink. We are women, not NON TRANSGENDER WOMEN. Just WOMEN will do in the future.”
The Telegraph has the story.
Blaire Fleming’s spot on the team has prompted a number of women involved in the league, including a teammate and a former coach, to file a lawsuit to prevent Ms Fleming from playing further games in the league.
Those behind the lawsuit allege the transgender player’s inclusion violates their Title XI rights, which prohibit sex-based discrimination in educational activities.
However, a judge ruled on Monday that Ms Fleming should be allowed to continue to compete.
In its story, The New York Times outlined the rules about transgender participation set by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the body that governs student athletics.
It said: “The NCAA says trans volleyball players are eligible to play if their testosterone level is less than 10 nanomoles per liter — that’s at least four times more than what many experts say is the top of the range for non-transgender women, and in the typical range for adult men.”
Navratilova, a nine-times Wimbledon champion, has previously described transgender women being allowed to compete in women’s sport as a form of “cheating”.
In 2019, she wrote for The Sunday Times that it was “insane” that “hundreds of athletes who have changed gender by declaration and limited hormone treatment have already achieved honours as women that were beyond their capabilities as men”.
Worth reading in full.
