Former UPenn Swimmer Lia Thomas Says Trans Women are ‘Not a Threat to Women’s Sports’

Former Penn swimmer Lia Thomas, 23, says she has a goal to compete in the Olympics after transitioning to the women’s team after three years on the men’s team.

During her first televised interview with ABC’s Juju Chang, Thomas talked about her contentious season at the University of Pennsylvania. She became the first transgender woman to win a Division 1 national title.

“I knew there would be scrutiny against me if I competed as a woman. I was prepared for that, but I also don’t need anybody’s permission to be myself and do the sport I love,” she said.

Furthermore, Thomas addressed the concerns that she still had a physical advantage over other female swimmers despite undergoing a year of hormone therapy.

“There’s a lot of factors that go into a race and how well you do, and the biggest change for me is that I’m happy, and sophomore year when I had my best times competing with the men, I was miserable. So having that be lifted is incredibly relieving and allows me to put my all into training and racing,” Thomas said.

“Trans people don’t transition for athletics. We transition to be happy and authentic and our true selves. Transitioning to get an advantage is not something that ever factors into our decisions.”

Thomas noted that cisgender female athletes had varied physical body types as well and questioned whether they, too, should be disqualified for having the upper hand.

“I’m not a medical expert, but there’s a lot of variation among cis female athletes,” she said. “There are cis women who are very tall and very muscular and have more testosterone than another cis woman, and should that then also disqualify them?”