She? He? It? Caster Semenya and Gender Politics Out on the Sports Field

Remember when women’s tennis fans (or foes) started saying Martina Navratilova looked like man? I do. And, it still chills me to the bone that as a baby dyke the only out lesbian I knew of— Navratilova—was being castigated for being a strong woman.

“Team Navratilova,” the catch-all for the people populating the tennis superstar’s support system in the bad old days included Renee Richards as her tennis coach. Richards, who grew up as Richard Raskin, is a former professional tennis player whose “sex reassignment surgery” made headlines worldwide. Richards was denied entry into the 1976 US Open. The United States Tennis Association tried to dispense with her by using a newly invented women-born-women only policy. Richards disputed that policy and her ban from professional tennis. The New York Supreme Court ruled in her favor in 1977—a milestone in trans rights in the sports arena.

And, when Navratilova began to work harder at her sport, build her incredible signature musculature and, of course, dare to love women openly, eyebrows were raised and rumors that Navratilova was actually a man surfaced. That was in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

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