Sixteen swimmers from the University of Pennsylvania have complained to the administration that transgender swimmer Lia Thomas enjoyed what they termed as an unfair advantage. The letter to the university and Ivy League officials asked them not to challenge the NCAA’s recently updated transgender policy.
Lia Thomas is a member of the Quakers women’s team but had earlier competed for the men’s team for three seasons. She underwent two years of hormone replacement treatment, which was part of the transition. She posted the fastest time among female swimmers this season in two events.
The letters sent by Thomas’s teammates have questioned the fairness and alleged that Lia was robbing them of their competitive opportunities. They said that they were losing out on spots in the Ivy League championship meet, where a school sends just half of its roster for the competition.
Penn University Swimmers Say That By Staying Silent, NCAA Was Discriminating Against Cisgenders
At the beginning of the season in 2021, Thomas began competing for the women’s team at Penn University. She had met the transgender participation conditions of the NCAA that stipulate that she has to be on hormone-suppressant treatment for a year. The requirement has since been changed as it was founded on obsolete science.
The NCAA indicated initially that it would adhere to the guidelines of USA Swimming that cater to the inclusion of transgenders. But then the sport’s governing body in America announced more stringent constraints.
Both former and current swimmers have spoken on this issue and so have some of the parents of the Penn University swimmers. But none of the university swimmers have gone on record on this issue. But many feel that her inclusion on the women’s team is unfair, especially after she was for years on the men’s team.
They say that by keeping silent on the matter, the NCAA was discriminating against cisgender women.
