(John Ransom, Headline USA) Many are mourning the passing of the sport of women’s swimming, while liberals are celebrating the smashing of gender roles as Lia Thomas, who used to be known as Will Thomas, won the NCAA women’s swimming championship for UPenn, the first time a transgendered person has accomplished it, but perhaps not the last.
But critics warn that future such victories will make a mockery of civil rights and put an end to women’s sports.
“The future of women’s sports is at risk and the equal rights of female athletes are being infringed,” said Penny Nance, president and CEO Concerned Women for America, in a statement according to ESPN. “We filed a formal civil rights complaint against UPenn in response to this injustice.”
The Title IX complaint alleges that it is unfair for Thomas, who is biologically a male, to compete against swimmers who are biologically female.
“I try to focus on my swimming, what I need to do to get ready for my races. And just try to block out everything else,” said Thomas in a video at ESPN.
“Years down the road, Lia Thomas’ name will be listed as the titlist of the 500 freestyle at the 2022 NCAA Championships,” said editor-in-chief John Lohn at Swimming World Magazine.
Lohn said that championship would be more appropriate coming on April Fool’s Day rather than St. Patrick’s Day, because a biological man competing against women is a joke, but not a funny one.
“There should be an asterisk next to her name. Meanwhile, the NCAA will be remembered for turning its back on biological women and producing a competitive environment that was anything but legitimate,” Lohn added.
CWA, however, does have a precedent for a court siding on behalf of biological women against transgendered competitors.
While it was widely celebrated by trans advocates that CeCe Telfer of Franklin Pierce University won the 2019 NCAA Division II track and field championship, CWA filed a Title IX complaint against the university, which was later required to alter its policy on allowing trans athletes to compete against biological women.
Timothy Mattson, a compliance team leader for the federal education department’s Office for Civil Rights said that the office “has concerns that the Policy denies female student-athletes equal athletic benefits and opportunities by permitting transgender athletes to participate in women’s intercollegiate athletic teams,” according to the Concord Monitor.
The ruling however did not apply to the NCAA as a whole, as it is not a degree-granting institution, but rather an association of colleges and universities.
