“Sixty-six percent of United States adults oppose men competing on women’s sports teams,” states the New York Post, citing a recent survey by NORC at the University of Chicago.
While this debate of biological men in women’s sports has been around for a few years, swimmer Lia Thomas, born male and formerly known as Will, has advocated for allowing other men to participate in arenas where they are heavily favored, i.e., a man in a women’s league.
The New York Post reports that shortly after Thomas switched from competing as a male in the men’s swimming league for the University of Pennsylvania, to competing in the women’s swimming league, he “dominated the field of biological women.” No surprise there!
He then went on to become the first male to win a female NCAA swimming championship.
Thomas told ABC News’ “Good Morning America” in 2022 about a lifelong goal to compete in the Olympic games.
World Aquatics, as of 2022, had rules that “banned transgender women who have been through male puberty from competing in women’s races.” To complement this rule, the committee created an “open” category for both men and women to compete in.
Subsequently, no one signed up and that category was cancelled.
In an effort to change the Word Aquatics’ decision, Thomas appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), a Switzerland based committee for “settling disputes that arise withing the world of high level athletics.”
Thomas argued that the rules where “invalid and unlawful.” The statement made by Thomas’ attorney goes on to state that bans such as these “are discriminatory and deprive us of the valuable athletic opportunities that are central to our identities,” continuing to say this should be a “call to action to all trans women athletes to continue to fight for our dignity and human rights.”
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) dismissed Thomas’ request to change the rules.
Thus, on June 12, 2024, Thomas lost the legal battle that would allow the athlete to compete in the Olympics next month.
World Aquatics supported the CAS decision in Thomas’ case believing it to be influential in protecting women’s sports.
The Daily Citizen previously wrote about well-known female athletes Riley Gaines, a competitor of Thomas, who continually lost to the male swimmer. In response to this ruling by CAS, Gaines took to X, as a primary critic of Thomas, to celebrate this win stating: “This is a victory for women and girls everywhere.”
Image from Getty.
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