“I am a woman, just like anybody else on the team,” Lia Thomas, the transgender collegiate swimmer, said in an interview with Sports Illustrated. Except, no, Lia is not a woman, and Lia is surely not like anybody else on the women’s swimming team. It is absurd to think otherwise, and such talk must stop. It has gone on long enough.

Lia is not, nor ever will be, a woman. Lia can refer to Lia in any particular way Lia wants. Lia can dress however Lia wants. Lia can identify however Lia wants. But Lia has male genitalia. Lia does not have breasts. Lia cannot bear children or produce eggs. Lia does not have a menstrual cycle. Lia will never go through menopause. These are the biological norms for being a woman. These are facts. This is science. And, as we all know from the past two years, science must be trusted.