Transgender swimmer Will “Lia” Thomas—the biological male who competes on the women’s swimming team for the University of Pennsylvania — won a 500-yard freestyle this week, at the 2022 NCAA Championships.
UPenn celebrated the news, calling Thomas “the first Quaker female swimmer to win an NCAA individual title.” In addition, CNN hailed Thomas as the first transgender athlete to win an NCAA Division 1 title.
Lia Thomas wins the 500 free at the NCAA Championships with a program-record time of 4:33.24.#FightOnPenn pic.twitter.com/YrQVbpxZRY
— Penn Swimming & Diving (@PennSwimDive) March 17, 2022
Thomas set a “program-record time” of 4:33.24, more than one second faster than second-place swimmer Emma Weyant, who earned a time of 4:34.99.
The UPenn swimmer has pushed back against those who note that, biologically, Thomas is male.
“The very simple answer is that I’m not a man,” the athlete told Sports Illustrated. “I’m a woman, so I belong on the women’s team. Trans people deserve that same respect every other athlete gets.”
As CBN News previously reported, there are some speaking out on the issue.
One USA Swimming official, Cynthia Millen, decided in late 2021 to resign in protest after more than 30 years in the industry. Millen took issue with the rules at the NCAA and USA Swimming that allowed Thomas to compete against biological females.
“I thought, ‘This is wrong. This betrays all of this fairness,'” she told CBN. “I mean, if a swimmer was wearing an illegal swimsuit we would tell the swimmer ‘go change your swimsuit. That’s not the right fabric. It’s giving you an advantage.'”
Others, too, have raised their voices.
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Reprinted with permission from Faithwirecom. Copyright © 2022 The Christian Broadcasting Network Inc. All rights reserved.
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