BY MEGHAN BAEHL, STAFF WRITER
Lia Thomas is a Division 1 swimmer at the University of Pennsylvania. She is well accomplished and recently won the national championship in the 500-yard freestyle event. But she is also transgender. On the surface level, there should be no issue. She is fully transitioned, has been on hormone therapy since 2019, and followed NCAA protocol to be able to compete as her true gender identity. So then what’s the issue?
The issue is that she won. Those who disagree with Thomas being able to race cite Title IX and feminism because Thomas is not ‘biologically female.’ I’m sorry, but no one gave a crap about female athletes until Title IX, and there are still instances today where it seems like they only give half of that said crap.
They say it’s ‘unnatural’ and her transition from male to female gave her an unfair advantage. But here are the facts, Thomas’ personal records when she raced as a male are 15 seconds faster than when she finished transitioning. Her hormone therapy caused her to lose her muscle mass, as well as her strength, which basically means that she was set years behind by transitioning. There are countless instances where Thomas has been placed under cisgender women, so she is not necessarily a force to be reckoned with. I am in no way criticizing her swimming ability but rather proving a point that there was no obvious advantage. For reference, the national title that Thomas just won with the time of 4:33:24 was raced by Olympic gold medalist and cisgender woman Katie Ledecky 9.18 seconds faster.
Instead of condemning Lia Thomas, they should be commending her. She trained diligently and broke all odds against her. She is the first-ever openly transgender athlete to win an NCAA Division 1 championship. People who are attacking Thomas on the basis of gender are violating Title IX.
They say that the NCAA protocol is outdated and doesn’t account for the results of transitioning being ‘advantageous.’ Do you know what’s outdated? Being a transphobic bully is outdated. This is not the last time you will hear about Lia Thomas. I will look forward to seeing her race in the Olympic Trials come 2024.
In fact, I cannot wait for more stories of acceptance, more transgender athletes following the road that Thomas began to pave. The adversity has made her stronger, and thanks to the support of the NCAA, we will see more success.
This is 2022, and acceptance is “real hot girl s-—.” Sorry, not sorry.
