Topline
Lia Thomas, the former University of Pennsylvania swimmer who became the first transgender athlete to win an NCAA Division I individual national title in March, defended her right to participate in women’s sports in her first on-camera interview since becoming a central figure in the debate on transgender athletes participating in women’s sports.
Former University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas stands at the podium at the NCAA swimming and … [+] diving championships in March.
Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Key Facts
Thomas told Good Morning America in an interview aired Tuesday morning: “Trans people don’t transition for athletics, we transition to be happy.”
The winner of the 2021-22 NCAA national championship in the women’s 500-yard freestyle, Thomas became a figure of unwanted national attention as the debate about whether transgender women should participate in women’s sports raged.
Thomas, who began to transition her sophomore year in 2019, told GMA being able to compete in swimming prevented her from transitioning earlier.
Key Background
Thomas previously competed for Penn’s men’s swimming and diving team before competing for the women’s team beginning in the 2021-22 season following her transition (the Ivy League canceled all winter athletic competition in the 2020-21 academic year). Thomas quickly rose to dominance on the women’s team, famously winning a race in December by 38 seconds, and her ranking among female athletes were drastically better than how she fared while on the men’s team. Research on the performance of transgender athletes is limited, but the debate largely centers around when the production of testosterone is inhibited. Mayo Clinic doctor Michael J. Joyner told the New York Times the surge of testosterone during puberty among biological males causes long-term “dramatic differences in performances” of biological males and females. More than a dozen of her Penn teammates signed an anonymous letter in February not supporting her right to compete, while more than 300 college professional swimmers penned a retaliatory letter in March supporting Thomas. Even several of the most prominent LGBTQ+ athletes vocally opposed Thomas being able to compete, including lesbian tennis star Martina Navratilova and transgender Olympic gold medalist Caitlyn Jenner. Despite the national attention, Thomas stayed out of the limelight, denying interview requests throughout the season before talking to Sports Illustrated in March and the NYT Sunday.
Crucial Quote
“I’m not a medical expert, but there’s a lot of variation among [cisgender] female athletes,” Thomas said on GMA Tuesday. “There’s just women who are very tall and very muscular and have more testosterone than another [cisgender] woman. And should that then also disqualify them?”
Tangent
Thomas’ meteoric rise has coincided with a surge in legislation against transgender athletes, and 18 states have legal restrictions in place for transgender sports participation. In January, the NCAA changed its rules to allow individual sports to determine whether transgender athletes can compete.
Further Reading
What Lia Thomas Could Mean for Women’s Elite Sports (New York Times)
Trans Swimmer Lia Thomas Opens Up in Exclusive Sports Illustrated Interview (Sports Illustrated)