16 Penn Swimmers Write Letter About Teammate Lia Thomas
Over the past few months, the University of Pennsylvania women’s swimming team has dominated the headlines.
The team is led by swimmer Lia Thomas, who has been breaking records all season long. Thomas started her career at Penn with the men’s swimming team. Now, after two years of hormone therapy, is breaking records with the women’s team.
However a recent ruling may put her season in jeopardy. USA swimming ratified a three-person panel of independent medical experts. That panel will decide whether or not “prior physical development of the athlete as a male” will give an unfair advantage over cisgender females.
Now, 16 members of the women’s swimming team at Penn is asking the school not to challenge the new directive.
Here’s part of the letter from the Washington Post:
“We fully support Lia Thomas in her decision to affirm her gender identity and to transition from a man to a woman. Lia has every right to live her life authentically,” the letter read. “However, we also recognize that when it comes to sports competition, that the biology of sex is a separate issue from someone’s gender identity. Biologically, Lia holds an unfair advantage over competition in the women’s category, as evidenced by her rankings that have bounced from #462 as a male to #1 as a female. If she were to be eligible to compete against us, she could now break Penn, Ivy, and NCAA Women’s Swimming records; feats she could never have done as a male athlete.”
Not everyone is against Thomas’ place on the team though. Some of her teammates believe she should be allowed to finish the season – at the very least.
We’ll have more when it becomes available.
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