Frustrated by the unfair advantage afforded to their transgender teammate Lia Thomas, 16 University of Pennsylvania swimmers wrote a letter to the school pointing out Thomas’s biological advantage.
They encouraged the school to honor the NCAA’s new policy, which now says eligibility for competitive sports will be decided by each sport’s governing body. This could bar Thomas from competition.
“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 athletes wrote. “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.”
The female teammates point out the obvious: “If [Thomas] 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.”
The athletes did not sign the letter because they had been told they “would be removed from the team” or “never get a job offer” if they spoke out this way. Nancy Hogshead-Makar, a 1984 Olympic swimming gold medalist, sent the letter on the swimmer’s behalf. This letter comes just two months after journalist Abigail Shrier encouraged the female athletes to speak up.
https://twitter.com/abigailshrier/status/1470117014261825538?lang=enSeveral female track athletes have been vocal about their rights to fair play. Their stories of being defeated by transgender women, biological men who play sports as females, prompted lawsuits and multiple states to draft or adopt fair play laws.
Absurdly, we are at a moment where speaking up for biological women and their rights to fair play is itself an act of bravery. After all, it goes against the orthodoxy of progressive ideology. If the University of Pennsylvania takes heed of the team’s advice, this could be a watershed moment for the fair play movement. Even just sending the letter shows that the tide may be finally turning when it comes to protecting women’s sports collectively. Women are speaking up for themselves.
This courage should resonate with girls and young women who may face a similar quandary in the future — or at present. It isn’t wrong, unethical, or immoral to accept an adult’s choice to live as a transgender person while firmly advocating for fairness and equity.
Kudos to these brave women.
Nicole Russell (@russell_nm) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. She is a Fort Worth Star-Telegram opinion writer and previously worked in Republican politics in Minnesota.
