Lia Thomas, a transgender swimmer, has claimed she will continue to compete in the female category
Lia Thomas is a transgender swimmer who defends competing in the female section. She claims that winning doesn’t matter to her, even though she regularly wipes the floor with girls-born opponents.
Lia switched to male from female and now competes for UPenn’s women’s basketball team.
Many people have criticised her for being part of the team. They claim she has an unfair advantage.
She defended her position in the team during a Thursday interview that Sports Illustrated published.
Her parents and teammates said that they are removing women from the sport.
‘I’m a woman, just like anybody else on the team. I’ve always viewed myself as just a swimmer. It’s what I’ve done for so long; it’s what I love.
She stated, “I go in to the water every single day and do my very best.”
Lia Thomas participating in a swimming meet on January 8, 2022
According to the magazine’s writer, Lia doesn’t care about setting or winning records.
‘The very simple answer is that I’m not a man. I’m a woman, so I belong on the women’s team.
Thomas used to compete in the men’s teams and began hormone therapy in 2019. After the pandemic, Thomas was granted a break and began transition therapy. Here she is in 2017.
Later in the interview, she stated that trans people should be treated with the same respect as any other athlete.
‘I don’t look into the negativity and the hate. I’m here to swim.
Few have spoken out against her for fear of being booted out of the team, but one parent told Sports Illustrated: ‘We support Lia as a trans woman and hope she leads a happy and productive life, because that’s what she deserves.
‘What we can’t do is stand by while she rewrites records and eliminates biological women from this sport.
‘If we don’t speak up here, it’s going to happen in college after college.
‘And then women’s sports, as we know it, will no longer exist in this country.’
Lia competed in the Olympics as a male until 2020 when the pandemic halted school and college sports.
After taking a break, she continued with advanced hormone therapy. She returned to the team for women in 2021.
She swam in December’s swim meet the fastest time ever recorded.
Thomas spoke out about how she first began questioning her gender as a high school student.
She said, “I felt disconnected from my body.”
After searching for what she felt, she found stories about transgender women she could relate to. UPenn provided her with a mentor who was trans.
‘Like, “Wow, this is such a close mirror of what I’m feeling.’ Then it began to make sense.
Her parents and brother told her that she was a female during the summer of her sophomore and freshman years at UPenn.
Bob, the father of Lia told the magazine that they would do whatever it takes to make Lia part our family. It was impossible to let her go.
She went on to school, but she became depressed.
I was extremely depressed. I got to the point where I couldn’t go to school. I missed classes.
“My sleep pattern was very chaotic. Some days I couldn’t get out of bed. At that point, I realized I had to take action to fix this.