A longtime USA Swimming official has resigned in protest of transgender swimmer Will Thomas, a biological male now known as Lia Thomas, competing in women’s competitions, multiple outlets report.
Cynthia Millen, who has officiated USA Swimming meets for three decades, stepped down Dec. 17, ahead of last week’s U.S. Paralympics Swimming National Championships in Greensboro, North Carolina.
“I can’t do this,” she wrote in her letter of resignation, the Washington Examiner reports. “I can’t support this.”
“I told my fellow officials that I can no longer participate in a sport which allows biological men to compete against women,” she added, per Swimming World. “Everything fair about swimming is being destroyed. If Lia came on my deck as a referee, I would pull the coach aside and say, ‘Lia can swim, but Lia can swim exhibition or a time trial. Lia cannot compete against those women because that’s not fair.'”
Thomas, 22, formerly competed as a member of the men’s swimming program at the University of Pennsylvania for two full seasons, most recently in 2019, per Fox News. The transgender swimmer recently dominated a women’s competition at the Zippy Invitational at the University of Akron, including the 500-yard freestyle preliminaries and finals and setting a new Ivy League record.
“While Thomas underwent hormone suppression and is in accordance with NCAA bylaws that allow her to compete as a member of the woman’s team, her performances show she possesses a competitive advantage due to male puberty and years of testosterone production,” Swimming World reports.
“The fact is that swimming is a sport in which bodies compete against bodies. Identities do not compete against identities,” Millen said in an appearance on Fox’s Tucker Carlson Tonight. “Men are different from women, men swimmers are different from women, and they will always be faster than women.”
“It’s horrible,” Millen added in her comments to guest host Sean Duffy. “The statement for women then is you do not matter, what you do is not important, and little girls are going to be thrown under the bus by all of this.”
Millen also supports a biblical view of gender, telling Duffy, “While Lia Thomas is a child of God, he is a biological male who is competing against women. And no matter how much testosterone suppression drugs he takes, he will always be a biological male and have the advantage.” {eoa}
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