Political Draft: 25 Athletes Who Need To Run For Office

Martina Navratilova

Martina Navratilova is a champion tennis player and lifelong activist. She went pro in 1975 when she turned 18. That same year, she defected to the U.S. from what was then Czechoslovakia in the former Soviet Union. Navratilova gained her American citizenship in 1981.

Navratilova retired in 2006, after a long and storied career. Many consider her to be one of the greatest women’s tennis player of all time. Some even manage to drop the “women” part; Billie Jean King called her “the greatest singles, doubles and mixed doubles player who’s ever lived.”

These days, Ms. Navratilova’s activism is practically legendary. She is a tireless campaigner for LGBT rights and a health and fitness ambassador for the AARP. The Human Rights Campaign gave her their National Equality Award in 1999.

Navratilova is one of the best political people to follow on Twitter. Earlier this month, she and American-Russian journalist Masha Gessen published and op-ed in the New York Times. In How Trump Has Taken Away Our Homes, they explained that

"We wrote this together because we have a few things in common. Some are obvious: Both of us came to the United States as teenagers fleeing Communist regimes; both of us are queer. We are also both moved alternately to tears and to rage by the actions of the new American president. One thing that we share is less obvious: This anger and despair make both of us feel as if we are losing our home."

Gessen and Navratilova talk about their quest to find acceptance and asylum in America. They know first-hand the potential danger immigrants and refugees face when the government turns against them.

Martina Navratilova is living proof of the American dream. She would be an excellent U.S. Senator.