‘I’m a Woman, Just Like Anybody Else on the Team’: UPenn Trans Swimmer Argues Biology

While speaking to Sports Illustrated, Will 'Lia' Thomas argued that he is a 'woman, just like everyone else on the team' as he breaks records, crushing the biologically female swimmers. Thomas disregards his biological edge of the female swimmers and on multiple occasions, he reported mocked how 'easy' they are to beat.

In an article meant to hype up the intrusion, Thomas targeted his teammate's parents, as if their issue with him was simply that he is trans. One parent spoke about the unfair hate they receive simply for speaking up. The parent told the magazine, “Lia is a human being who deserves to be treated with respect and dignity,” that it is “not transphobic to say I disagree with where she’s swimming.”

That doesn't sound like discrimination to me, what about you?

When asked to respond, Thomas told the magazine that argument is disingenuous: “The very simple answer is that I’m not a man.”

“I’m a woman, so I belong on the women’s team. Trans people deserve that same respect every other athlete gets,” Thomas said.

Thomas, who had previously only spoken publicly to swimming-news website SwimSwam, claims swimming is not about winning or setting records: “I get into the water every day and do my best.”

“We support Lia as a trans woman and hope she leads a happy and productive life, because that’s what she deserves,” one parent of a Penn swimmer says. “What we can’t do is stand by while she rewrites records and eliminates biological women from this sport. If we don’t speak up here, it’s going to happen in college after college. And then women’s sports, as we know it, will no longer exist in this country.”