UPenn swimmer Lia Thomas prepares to race at a recent swim meet.

by Carter Braun ‘23

The 2022 NCAA Swimming Championships have concluded, and all eyes were on Lia Thomas, a transgender swimmer for the University of Pennsylvania who has broken school records left and right since joining the women’s team this past year. During the NCAA Championships on March 16-19, Thomas finished first in the 500 freestyle and was a finalist in two other events. While this marks the conclusion of Thomas’ career at Penn, it only signifies the beginning of a movement, as well as controversy, much larger than sports.

Before the NCAA Championships, Thomas won titles in the women’s 100, 200, and 500 yard freestyle events at the Ivy League Championships. These victories came after a swimming season filled with uncertainty surrounding Thomas’ participation in the meets in the first place. Previously, she swam for the men’s team at Penn for three years. Thomas was eligible to compete in women’s swimming events under a 2010 NCAA rule that granted eligibility for trans women who had completed one year of hormone therapy. Although she achieved NCAA eligibility, that has not translated into a consensus public opinion of the issue. In fact, due to the dominance that Thomas has displayed, controversy and pushback have arisen regarding transgender athletes’ eligibility.

The public certainly has their opinions, some expressing positivity towards the inclusion of transgender athletes into NCAA swimming, and others claiming that Thomas is a male and is ruining sports forever. However, Thomas remains unphased, stating in an interview with Sports Illustrated, “I am a woman, just like anybody else on the team.” Some of her teammates do not feel the same way, and sources close to Penn’s team estimate that of 37 total members of the squad, only six to eight were “adamant supporters” of the senior star and around half of the team strongly opposed Thomas competing in women’s events. On February 4, 16 of these teammates issued a letter to school and Ivy League officials speaking out against Thomas’ participation in the Ivy League Championships.

Many people believe that Thomas is not fit to be swimming against biological women as it poses an unfair advantage for her. Others argue that if Thomas transitions genders, then she should be considered a woman, allowing her to compete against the rest of the women in the country. According to USA Swimming’s new rules that will go in effect beginning with the 2023-24 season, no transgender athlete will be allowed to compete in the women’s category prior to showing that her concentration of testosterone in serum has been less than 5 nmol/L for a continuous period of 36 months.

Prominent conservative outlets such as Fox News have consistently run segments on the issue of transgender athletes, and Republican elected officials responded with legislative measures. In the last couple of years, 11 republican governors have enacted legislation banning biological men from participating in women’s sports at the high school level, even though they identify as female. On March 3, Iowa governor Kim Reynolds signed a bill that prohibits transgender girls and women from participating in girls’ high school sports and women’s college athletics. Even more recently and in a surprise to many, Indian’s republican governor, Eric Holcomb, vetoed a bill similar to that of the state of Iowa, which would have prevented transgender females from participating in high school athletics. Even after more than two years in the news, the culture war over transgender athletes appear to be intensifying.