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Transgender Swimmer Lia Thomas Has Messages for her Critics

SGKing
Penn swimmer Lia Thomas, who happens to be transgender, caused a ton of controversy after taking home a championship win Thursday

Pennsylvania's Lia Thomas prepares to swim the women's 500-yard freestyle final at the NCAA swimming and diving championships Thursday, March 17, 2022, at Georgia Tech in Atlanta. Thomas, who won, is the first known transgender woman to win an NCAA swimming championship. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

Transgender swimmer Lia Thomas responded to critics who say that she gained an unfair advantage competing against women.

Thomas spent three years swimming for the Penn men’s team, then joined the women’s squad for the 2021-2022 season.

She wants people to know swimming has nothing to do with her transition to a female.

“The biggest misconception, I think, is the reason I transitioned,” Thomas told ABC News and ESPN. “People will say, ‘Oh, she just transitioned so she would have an advantage, so she could win.’ I transitioned to be happy, to be true to myself.”

“Trans women competing in women’s sports does not threaten women’s sports as a whole,” Thomas said. “Trans women are a very small minority of all athletes. The NCAA rules regarding trans women competing in women’s sports have been around for 10- plus years. And we haven’t seen any massive wave of trans women dominating.”

“Trans people don’t transition for athletics. We transition to be happy and authentic and our true selves. Transitioning to get an advantage is not something that ever factors into our decisions.”

“It’s no different than a cis (cisgender) woman taking a spot on a travel team or a scholarship. It’s a part of athletics, where people are competing against one each other. It’s not taking away opportunities from cis women really,” Thomas said. “Trans women are women, so it’s still a woman who is getting that scholarship or that opportunity.”

Thomas has graduated from Penn with plans on attending law school and said she would do it all over again.

This is one topic that is going to  continued to get debated for a long time to come.

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