Lia Thomas, the transgender female, has been making waves regarding her ability to compete in UPenn swimming meets.
Most people believe that Thomas should not be allowed to compete in any meets. According to the Washington Post, sixteen of Lia’s teammates believe that her ability to compete should be considered and she should be sidelined.
The teammates wrote a letter to the school board and Ivy League officials regarding the biological advantages Lia has, especially considering that she still has male hormones in her body by default. The letter stated:
“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. 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….”
With this in mind, it is also important to note that Lia was ranked #462 in men’s swimming to #1 in women’s swimming. This is a drastic change in ranking and another issue the teammates brought up in their letter: “…her rankings have bounced from #462 as a male to #1 as a female. If she 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.”
In other words, because Lia has male testosterone and is physically built like a male, she now gained an advantage over her teammates and any other female collegiate swimmer.
Nevertheless, some people see Thomas’ ability to compete as valid and acceptable. According to the NCAA, the athlete must have undergone at least twelve months of hormone replacement therapy to contest legally; Thomas has gone through it for twenty-four months.
The replacement therapy treatment includes high levels of estrogen and progestogen, the female sex hormones. In Thomas’ case, this curbs how much testosterone she has compared to how much estrogen she has.
With the growing controversy surrounding Lia Thomas, the NCAA has established a new transgender athlete policy and has left each individual sport’s governing body to decide if a transgender athlete can compete. The new approach is based on scientific evidence regarding hormones, whereas the previous policy was not.
To determine whether or not a transgender athlete can compete, a panel of three medical experts will decide if the athlete has an advantage based on them previously being a male.