(Headline USA) A University of Pennsylvania swimmer came forward this week to blast the school’s administration and transgender swimmer Lia Thomas, accusing university officials of turning a blind eye to girls’ concerns about competing with a man.
Paula Scanlan, a senior on Penn’s women’s swimming team, competed alongside Thomas after the trans swimmer joined the women’s swimming team in 2021. Thomas went on to win the women’s NCAA Division I national championship in the 500-yard freestyle, dominating competition.
Scanlan had previously spoken anonymously about the ordeal in the Daily Wire’s documentary What is a Woman?, but revealed her identity this week for the first time. She told the Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh in an interview on Monday that she thought she could keep her identity anonymous because her feelings about Thomas would go away with time, but then they didn’t.
She shared new details about her experience swimming on the same team as Thomas, saying several girls complained to the university’s administration only to be pressured into silence.
“One of the girls [was] very upset. She went crying to the athletic department, I don’t know what they said to her but she then was completely on board and thought Lia swimming was this magical, beautiful thing,” Scanlan said. “Is there something wrong with me for thinking this was wrong? It worked. The university wanted us to be quiet, and they did it in a very effective way.”
Her coaches would likewise “tell us that our opinions were wrong and if we had an issue about it, we were the problem … and your future job is on the line,” Scanlan said.
“There was something going on in this athletic department that wanted to keep us quiet. This was getting scary,” Scanlan added.
Scanlan also said her teammates would deliberately change in bathroom stalls to avoid changing in front of Thomas.
