University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas is only the most recent and most visible example of biological men competing and winning against female athletes, with examples now dating back several years.
Thomas, who is biologically male, finished first in the women’s 500-yard freestyle event at the NCAA championships last week over three swimmers who had each won silver medals at the last Olympics. The result capped the collegiate swimming season with a shadow of controversy while providing the most high-profile image of a biologically male transgender athlete competing in women’s sports.
But while Thomas has generated national headlines, women’s sports advocates are quick to point out that the UPenn swimmer is not the first biological man to dominate a women’s event in collegiate sports.
In February 2020, the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative legal nonprofit organization, filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of three female high school track athletes against the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference, which governs interschool sports in the state, accusing the conference of violating Title IX protections that guarantee women equal access to school sports.
THE OLYMPIC SILVER MEDALISTS LIA THOMAS BEAT AT THE NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
The plaintiffs lost out on multiple championship opportunities against biologically male athletes competing in track and field in Connecticut, according to the lawsuit.
“Besides the psychological toll of experiencing unfair losses over and over, the CIAC’s policy has more tangible harms for women. It robs girls of the chance to race in front of college scouts who show up for elite metes, and to compete for the scholarships and opportunities that come with college recruitment,” plaintiff Chelsea Mitchell wrote in an op-ed last year.
The advocacy group Save Women’s Sports has tracked dozens of cases of biological men competing in women’s sports at all levels.
At the collegiate level, that included University of Montana track athlete June Eastwood, who was a top-ranked cross country runner at the Big Sky Championships in 2017 while competing as a man.
After switching to a female identity and competing as a woman in 2019, Eastman finished first at the Big Sky Indoor Track and Field Championships in the women’s 1,500-meter event in February 2020.
In May 2019, CeCe Telfer, a trans athlete competing for Franklin Pierce University, was crowned NCAA Division II champion in the 400-meter hurdles, becoming the first biologically male athlete to win an NCAA national championship as a woman.
In an interview with the Washington Examiner, Save Women’s Sports founder Beth Stelzer said women competing against biological men is taking place at all age groups and is proving “very detrimental for our young women to be experiencing this.”
“We’re telling our girls that they don’t have a right to say no by allowing these males into our spaces,” Stelzer said. “These young women … often don’t have a chance to either use their voice or the courage to use their voice, [and] they’re stuck in some very difficult situations.”
Stelzer said that among the effects of allowing athletically dominant trans athletes in women’s sports is discouraging athletes, some of whom are choosing to give up on their athletic careers earlier than they would — something that could sound the death knell of women’s athletics.
“We already have moms of young girls saying that they’re quitting sports because what is the point to show up?” Stelzer said. “It will just be a matter of generations, and we will no longer have women’s sports.”
Stelzer, who attended the NCAA swimming championships last week to protest against Thomas, called on schools to “step up and protect girls instead of pandering to the feelings of a small percentage of people” and noted that the benefits of athletic participation go far beyond physical well-being.
“Academically, professionally, [sports] gives us the building blocks we need for life,” Stelzer said. “Over 90% of CEOs and government officials who are female have sports backgrounds.”
“When you put a male body into the mix, it totally changes the dynamic, whether they’re winning or not,” she added.
But while Thomas and other trans athletes have provided high-profile controversies of biological men winning women’s athletic competitions, Republican lawmakers and governors across the country have had success passing legislation at the state level requiring athletes to compete according to their biological sex.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, after a highly criticized veto of similar legislation last year, signed a bill last month prohibiting athletes like Thomas and Eastwood from competing in women’s sports.
In contrast, Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb vetoed a bill Monday that would have made the Hoosier State the 10th Republican-controlled state to adopt such legislation.
