Three former swimmers, including Lia Thomas (a transgender athlete), have filed a lawsuit against the University of Pennsylvania. They claim that the school has violated their civil rights.
The lawsuit was filed by former UPenn swimming stars Grace Eastabrook and Ellen Homquist in Massachusetts’ U.S. District Court this week. As defendants are the Ivy League Council of Presidents and the NCAA.
Thomas was barred from competing in elite swimming events, including the Olympics. While competing for the University of Pennsylvania, she secured an NCAA title in meets that operated outside the World Aquatics competitive system, where she was not registered.
In 2022, the World Aquatics governing organization added a new policy on gender inclusion. This will prevent biological male athletes from participating in elite women’s races unless they have transitioned before 12 years of age or before they reach puberty. The “open” category was created for transgender athletes.
Thomas won national recognition when she won the NCAA 500-meter freestyle championship in 2022 and was named All-American at three women’s swimming championships.
The three former UPenn women’s swimmers who competed in the 2022 Ivy League Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships said that Mike Schnur, the school’s head swimming coach, boasted that he was equipped with “secret weapons” before the season started.
Before the Ivy League Championships, they said that Thomas’ dominance of women’s swimming “meet after match” was international news. The lawsuit claims that the Ivy League Council of Presidents met behind closed doors to “strike public blows against trans-identifying male athletes competing in women’s sport.”
The lawsuit stated that the 2022 Ivy League match was to be a culmination of the public campaign by the league to “manipulate the public opinion and to change the NCAA Division I college sports landscape” to accommodate transgender men who want to compete against women.
According to an NCAA spokesperson, “College Sports are the premier stage in America for women’s sports. While the NCAA will not comment on any pending litigations, the Association and its Members will continue to promote Title IX and make unprecedented investments into women’s sporting events and ensure fair competition at all NCAA Championships.”
The University of Pennsylvania did not respond to an email seeking comment sent by the sender.
Thomas is the only male athlete who has ever won an NCAA Division I Women’s Title. Thomas competed on the men’s team of the university before converting to women.
We allowed Thomas’ teammates to speak and they were anonymous.
She said, “This is an issue that must be addressed.”
The lawsuit brought by the women swimmers follows the executive order signed by President Donald Trump that prohibits men from participating in women’s sports.
Thomas’s ex-teammate said she felt that many of her teammates were “really afraid” to speak up. She told us that when she first saw Thomas competing with UPenn’s women’s team, it shocked her, and she said the team had to accept this because nobody was there to speak out.