This week, a man won a women’s swimming championship title. The media immediately hailed this victory as a record-breaking, history-making triumph, celebrating Lia Thomas as the first openly transgender person to compete in and win a Division I national championship.
But everyone — and I do mean everyone — knows this was a farce. Many are just too afraid to say it.
Thomas, formerly known as Will Thomas, competed on the University of Pennsylvania’s men’s swimming team for the first half of his collegiate career before deciding to transition and join the women’s swimming team. When he made the switch, Thomas went from ranking #462 as a male to #1 as a female. He went on to break multiple records at the national level this season. In one December race, he beat the girls swimming against him by nearly 40 seconds. On Thursday, he finished the 500-yard freestyle two seconds ahead of every other swimmer, two of whom were Olympians.
Thomas’s times speak for themselves. It is obvious he has a massive advantage over the women competing against him, and no one really believes otherwise. Even those who support his participation do not deny his physical build gives him a distinct advantage. They simply argue inclusion is more important than a level playing field, according to the New York Times’s write-up of the race. Combine participation-trophy culture with radical gender ideology and this is the result.
Legacy media outlets have been more than happy to push this nonsense. Sports Illustrated published a glowing report about Thomas, making out the swimmer to be some sort of victim who rose to face adversity. The Associated Press hailed Thomas for taking “control” in Thursday’s championship race and making “history.” Their goal is to change the very definition of sex and convince readers “gender identity” trumps biological reality.
It’s all a lie, and everyone knows it. That’s why fans watching the 500-yard freestyle race on Thursday chose not to clap until the second- and third-place swimmers, the actual women, touched the wall. It’s why a Virginia Tech swimmer broke down into tears after realizing she wouldn’t place in the finals because of Thomas. It’s why a top USA Swimming official resigned from her position when the NCAA refused to stand up for the women trying to compete. It’s why more than 300 Olympians and Olympic coaches signed a petition demanding lawmakers protect women’s sports from the unfairness transgender participation guarantees.
This isn’t bigotry, it’s common sense. Anyone who argues otherwise is not interested in women’s rights or even transgender rights — they only want to control the narrative so they can control the culture. But the truth is staring us right in the face, and it deserves to be said out loud over and over again: Lia Thomas is not a champion because he is not a woman. It’s that simple.
Kaylee McGhee White is the deputy editor of Restoring America for the Washington Examiner and a visiting fellow at the Independent Women’s Forum.
