Lia Thomas Saga: With NCAA Championships Now Here, Betrayal of Female Athletes Continues

AMEN SISTER

Nice article and valid opinion voiced by one for many supporters. Why doesn’t this athlete step aside and be happy/ content with her winnings so far? If she continues to swim at the Championships prior to the NCAA’s, she’s being selfish. She’s not swimming for her her team, she’s swimming for a misguided belief that it’s for equality and inclusion of the transgender.

How about the other female athletes take their own stand for equality while standing tall on the blocks at each race and NOT adhere to the starting pistol, while leaving only one swimmer in the pool. That surely would make a statement at such a prestigious event. Give it a try ladies….. you are guaranteed a wealth of self pride if you take this course of action.

How could you not know that we’re talking about University of Pennsylvania and not Penn State?! Lol
Also, this is about meaningful competition and fairness, and Lia does provide meaningful competition and it is just as fair as any other advantage that athletes foster all the time (eg have you noticed that basketball players over 6 foot have an advantage making the team over shorter ones?). Have you noticed that the Penn students are in the top 1% of wealthiest people on earth? Do you think that wealth is not a differentiating advantage that Impacts one’s athletic opportunities? If it unfair for Lia to compete, then it is also unfair for the top 1%ers to compete.

Just for the record it’s not Penn State, they are in the Big 10, Penn is in the Ivy League. And I wholeheartedly agree with you.

This is real simple. Why do we have male sports and female sports? Answer: Because physical characteristics of the sexes are different and need to be divided in order to have an even playing field. Simply look at all the track and field records for the history of time. Biological males have more testosterone than females. Males are on average faster and stronger than females. This CAN’T be debated. Call yourself whatever you want. Your DNA CAN’T be debated.

This is the University of Pennsylvania and not Penn State!! Maybe can you remove that part off your comment? Penn State has a great swimming and diving program that is NOT a part of this. Thanks.

I am not from Pennsylvania and don’t know the state university system, University of Pennsylvania or Penn State, but silencing athletes is wrong and stinks of a scandal, regardless of the institution. Enough with the backblow because my previous comment is focused on an athlete who was chosen to gain a grossly unfair advantage by exploiting LGBT to for privilege. Lia is no different than Rachel Dolezal, a Caucasian who pretended to be a minority, to advance herself for personal gain

As a lesbian I too am offended by Lia. I am not here to argue university name but unfairness and misogyny that this university is doing. What a unfairness to womens sports!!!!!

Hi Elizabeth!
I would like to thank you for your extremely transphobic and regressive opinions regarding Lia Thomas. It is so eye opening to see someone be so wrong about transgender women and their role that they play in women’s sports!
Lia has met every guideline set by the conference and continues to do so. Before her transition, she was very successful in her career on the men’s team and has continued to improve. As a transgender person goes through transitioning, their overall testosterone goes and down and it can sometimes inhibit their ability to perform athletically. Her biological disposition to these “advantages” that you claim exist is completely false. Even if it was accurate, some people are genetically predispositioned to excel in certain sports. Michael Phelps, for example, has a larger than average wingspan, large feet, and his lungs can intake more air. All of these are genetic advantages that allowed him to dominate in swimming, but no one argues that he should not have been able to compete as a result of these advantages.
Additionally, your opinion that a person would willingly go through a chemical transition to be a better competitor in swimming is disgusting and, overall, a grossly ignorant opinion that invalidates someone’s entire identity.
Transgender women belong in sports, they should be welcomed and celebrated rather than questioned and criticized. This is not a ploy to abuse the LGBT community in order to succeed, Thomas is an example of someone representing trans athletes everywhere.
Overall, your comment is disgusting and the article itself is rooted in views that paint her 16 teammates to be the victims. Not every member of the team signed this letter and the university has an obligation to not discriminate against trans athletes that has occurred for far too long.
I recommend that you, the author of this article, and anyone else that agrees with this standpoint to think long and hard on whether your views are in support of fairness or that they exist solely to perpetuate transphobia.

You’re confusing Penn State and the University of Pennsylvania. Penn State is not in the Ivy League, but is instead part of the Big 10 conference. The University of Pennsylvania is in the Ivy League, and is the subject of this article.

Elizabeth I have to totally agree with you on this situation. The NCAA has completely failed title IX for women.
I would like to point out one fallacy of your statement though. The university involved is not Penn State University, which is a Big Ten team, but Penn university in the Ivy league. Two different universities. But Penn State did have your stated problems with the football team years ago.

Different universities. Penn State is the Jerry Sandusky stuff. This is Penn U.

You need to check your facts. You aren’t even speaking of the correct university.

It’s the university of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Ivy League, not the cow college to which you refer. Did you even read the article?

While I agree with you, it must be known that Thomas is swimming for Penn(University of Pennsylvania) than Penn State.

Penn is the University of Pennsylvania not Penn State University .Penn state is in the Big Ten , Penn is in the Ivy League.

The University of Pennsylvania, Penn, is not Penn State. They are two different institutions.

Hey anonymous, your analogies between disadvantages in height for basketball players and the wealth are totally erroneous. Fact: we have a biological male competing in a female sport.

Elizabeth. Please make sure you know what you are talking about before condemning an entire institution and it’s athletes. Lia is student athlete at Penn not Penn State.

Penn State is NOT University of Pennsylvania. Please get your facts straight.

She goes to Penn not Penn State. Completely different .

University of Pennsylvania is in Philadelphia and is definitely not related to Penn State, which is in University Park, PA

Do you know what’s even more ridiculous than supporting a man swimming against women? Believing that you need to correct Elizabeth about her Penn State error after 200 people before you already have.

To Sean’s idiotic question about “which rights:” It’s called Title IX, women and girls’ right to equal access of educational opportunities, including school athletics. That right is now gone thanks to the gender cult.

Why are you referring to a man as a she I don’t care what kind of surgery has taken place the birth certificate of Mr Thomas says he was a male born a male will die a male no matter what he says or feels or thinks it’s simple biology one cannot change its biological origin of birth he does not belong anywhere near a pool with women athlete’s

It doesn’t matter what conference, your daughter is probably out of luck because there’s a bill in the US Senate that would allow men to compete in athletics as women at every level of competition.

I’m pretty sure this federal bill would supersede any state laws banning men who claim to be women from women’s athletics. And so every conference would have to allow men who claim to be women to swim against women.

I can’t write the name of the bill because apparently this magazine will not print my post if I do, but look it up, and if you care about women’s athletics, do something about it.