Despite Lia Thomas following all of the NCAA’s rules about competing in a different gender category, it seems like it is not enough to keep many female athletes and others content. Per the title of this article, many people feel like she is taking away wins from women. As we struggled to figure out why seemingly everyone is so outraged, we stumbled across this tweet.
This also explains why so many things about Lia Thomas are being taken out of context, and there is an example of that below. They want to focus on the one thing they can cling to which is that Lia Thomas was born a male biologically, but that does not change the fact that she is a woman. While not everyone on her team at Penn State is an active supporter of her, recently a photo of her separate from three of her teammates has been circulating with the claim that they did not support Lia’s win. However, that is not the full truth behind the photo.
In addition to Lia Thomas, policies against the trans community like the one seen below are being pushed all over the country. Aside from the fact that the quote from Gene Mills is blatantly misgendering any trans female athlete, Blake Paterson also raises the point that Lia Thomas did not even win every category of the NCAA that she competed in. She came in 5th for her 200 yd final, 8th in her 100 yd freestyle, and only placed 1st in her 500 yd freestyle.
Additionally, we have tweets like the one seen below. Aside from more misgendering, Beth Stelzer is acting like Lia Thomas is not a female athlete herself. Any athlete’s biological sex should not matter. Lia went through two years of HRT before moving from the male to female team at Penn State which is over the one-year minimum needed before transferring teams. The HRT had the expected effects of shrinking Thomas by an inch, decreading her strength, and redistributing her fat; her body has gone through an intense toll just so she can be herself.
Even Mike Pence hopped on with his opinion, stating that Emma Weyant, who placed 2nd in the 500 yd freestyle swim, was the true winner of the race. Luckily for the Thomas and the NCAA, he cannot declare a winner so Thomas gets to keep her rightfully earned and fought for title.
It was nice to be provided with a resource to explain things from the perspective of other transgender athletes and what it is truly like, so it is also linked in this Tweet below. To those who are claiming ANY trans athlete underwent HRT just to win a trophy might want to give this a listen.
On a kinder note, @tomdeblass featured this young woman on his Instagram who articulated herself extremely well on her stance on Lia Thomas.
Last but certainly not least, this text post provides loads of insight and detail into trans female athletes, and the caption provides valuable sources for those who want to learn more about trans women in sports.
Madeline'e Blog 