Wilton Manors is an extremely open and welcoming community, but extreme, anti-trans activist Martina Navratilova is not welcome here. At least that is what some connected to Monday’s Holiday Spectacular have said. The annual Wilton Manors Holiday Spectacular is a fun tradition that generally doesn’t warrant much “hard” news coverage. But this year, organizers find themselves forced to take a stand on trans rights. Expected to perform at Monday’s upcoming event at Richardson Park on The Drive is Real Housewife of Miami’s Julia Lemigova, the wife of tennis icon Navratilova. When word got out that she would be getting four free VIP tickets to the event, many in the community reacted. The event is put on by Wilton Manors Business Association, or WMBA. I talked with multiple people connected to the event and they are clear in their response. Martina has a long history of anti-trans rhetoric. She has expressed hateful and hurtful comments about the community and the idea of standing on the stage and seeing her front and center is difficult for many involved. Martina’s rhetoric continued this week, when she picked a fight with Queer News Tonight’s story on Twitter/X. The story reported her factual statement that Trans Women could not be lesbians. A few weeks ago, she called trans women a bad parody of a woman. Here was part of the story comments.
