Disney actress and former athlete Natasha Ward is in hot water with the trans community after saying “we need to have this conversation” about biological males dominating women’s sports.
The Station 19 actress and fitness model who ran track at the University of California, Irvine weighed in on the topic on her private Instagram page, saying that men who claim to be women are pushing female athletes out of sports or forcing them to take performance-enhancing drugs just to compete. Although the Instagram story came down, Twitter users posted screenshots of it.
“Supporting #transfreedom does not mean it’s ok to violate the rights of biological #women,” Ward wrote. “Pretending that trans women are not men who have a biological advantage and therefore place an undue burden on biological women is make believe and it is not science nor fact.”
“When ‘your truth’ trumps ‘THE TRUTH’ and forces me to pretend that it’s not a lie we have a very real problem,” she said.
Ward’s comments came amid a series of controversies involving transgender women dominating female sports, including Lia Thomas, the 6-foot-2 biological male dominating women’s collegiate swimming at the University of Pennsylvania. Thomas finished first in the women’s 500-yard freestyle event at the NCAA championships last week over three swimmers who had each won silver medals at the last Olympics.
Critics were quick to call for Ward’s cancellation for raising the issue.
“Natasha ward deserves to be held accountable for what she’s said about trans women,” wrote one Twitter user. “You can’t have a show an cast that celebrates diversity whilst having a known transphobe in the cast. do better station 19. please do what you must.”
“If Natasha ward doesn’t get fired all of us are gonna [do] it ourselves #station19,” wrote another user.
Save Women’s Sports founder Beth Stelzer recently told the Washington Examiner that women competing against biological men is taking place at all age groups and is proving “very detrimental for our young women to be experiencing this.”
“We’re telling our girls that they don’t have a right to say ‘no’ by allowing these males into our spaces,” Stelzer said. “These young women … often don’t have a chance to either use their voice or the courage to use their voice, [and] they’re stuck in some very difficult situations.”
“What is wrong with you #NatashaWard this is just downright degrading to trans women,” wrote a third user. “Nobody is taking away cos womens rights by being trans. I don’t feel violated. this is basically saying that trans women aren’t real women. you might want to get rid of her.”
Polls show a majority of people do not support biological boys and men being able to participate in women’s sports. And Ward had plenty of backers on Twitter willing to take on those who sought to cancel her.
“Never heard of Natasha Ward or her show, but the indoor kids are crying to get this woman fired for speaking rational truth,” tweeted a user under the name Large Marge. “They cry for no debate because they have … no argument.”
*story by The Washington Examiner
