{"id":1358211,"date":"2022-03-04T08:33:29","date_gmt":"2022-03-04T13:33:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1358211"},"modified":"2022-03-04T08:40:33","modified_gmt":"2022-03-04T13:40:33","slug":"trans-penn-swimmer-lia-thomas-says-i-belong-on-the-womens-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trans-penn-swimmer-lia-thomas-says-i-belong-on-the-womens-team\/","title":{"rendered":"Trans Penn Swimmer Lia Thomas Says \u201cI Belong on the Women\u2019s Team\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ftrans-penn-swimmer-lia-thomas-says-i-belong-on-the-womens-team%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1358211&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><aside class=\"single__inline-module alignleft\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>Transgender swimmer Lia Thomas is pushing back against critics who say she doesn\u2019t belong in the pool with other women, declaring \u201cI\u2019m not a man.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The 22-year-old University of Pennsylvania swimmer <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/12\/02\/upenn-transgender-swimmer-sparks-outrage-by-shattering-womens-records\/\">making waves amid a national debate<\/a> on whether transgender athletes should be allowed to compete against biological females said there\u2019s no middle ground in the controversy as she sees it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe very simple answer is that I\u2019m not a man,\u201d she <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/college\/2022\/03\/03\/lia-thomas-penn-swimmer-transgender-woman-daily-cover\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">told Sports Illustrated<\/a> in an exclusive interview posted online Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m a woman, so I belong on the women\u2019s team. Trans people deserve that same respect every other athlete gets.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Thomas, an economics major originally from Texas, said she started questioning her identity while at Westlake High School in Austin.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI felt off, disconnected with my body,\u201d Thomas recalled during a series of interviews with the magazine in January, her first public comments since <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/12\/09\/penn-transgender-swimmer-lia-thomas-says-she-tunes-out-the-backlash\/\">sitting down for a podcast in December<\/a> with swimming site SwimSwam.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas later told her brother between her freshman and sophomore years at Penn, where she had been paired with a trans mentor once on campus. She then informed her parents, who were supportive of her transition.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/Transgender-swimmer-lia-thomas-sports-illustrated-04.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/Transgender-swimmer-lia-thomas-sports-illustrated-04.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all&#038;w=1024\" alt=\"\u201cI\u2019m a woman, so I belong on the women\u2019s team,\" Thomas told Sports Illustrated \/><\/a><figcaption>\u201cI\u2019m a woman, so I belong on the women\u2019s team,\u201d Lia Thomas told Sports Illustrated.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">JOSH REYNOLDS<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/Transgender-swimmer-lia-thomas-sports-illustrated-06.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"681\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/Transgender-swimmer-lia-thomas-sports-illustrated-06.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all&#038;w=1024\" alt=\"Thomas began hormone replacement therapy in May 2019.\" class=\"wp-image-21400357\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/Transgender-swimmer-lia-thomas-sports-illustrated-06.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all&#038;w=1536 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/Transgender-swimmer-lia-thomas-sports-illustrated-06.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/Transgender-swimmer-lia-thomas-sports-illustrated-06.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all&#038;w=512 512w\" \/><\/a><figcaption>Lia Thomas began hormone replacement therapy in May 2019.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Chris Szagola<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cWe will do everything and anything we need to do to have Lia be a part of this family,\u201d Thomas\u2019 father, Bob, told Sports Illustrated. \u201cWe were not going to lose her.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Still, Thomas\u2019 gender dysphoria only heightened during her second year at Penn despite coming out to her family.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was very depressed,\u201d she said, leading to less time in the pool. \u201cI got to the point where I couldn\u2019t go to school. I was missing classes. My sleep schedule was super messed up. Some days I couldn\u2019t get out of bed. I knew at that moment I needed something to address this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Thomas, who still hadn\u2019t come out to her Penn coaches and teammates, later began hormone replacement therapy in May 2019, but knew it could come at a severe cost, she said.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-nypost-small-post is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/Transgender-swimmer-lia-thomas-sports-illustrated-05.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/Transgender-swimmer-lia-thomas-sports-illustrated-05.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all&#038;w=231\" alt=\"Thomas poses on the podium after winning the 100 yard freestyle during the 2022 Ivy League Women&#039;s Swimming and Diving Championships.\" class=\"wp-image-21400366\" width=\"251\" height=\"312\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/Transgender-swimmer-lia-thomas-sports-illustrated-05.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all&#038;w=499 502w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/Transgender-swimmer-lia-thomas-sports-illustrated-05.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all&#038;w=374 376w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/Transgender-swimmer-lia-thomas-sports-illustrated-05.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all&#038;w=251 251w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/Transgender-swimmer-lia-thomas-sports-illustrated-05.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all&#038;w=125 125w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/Transgender-swimmer-lia-thomas-sports-illustrated-05.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all 1024w\" \/><\/a><figcaption>Thomas poses on the podium after winning the 100 yard freestyle during the 2022 Ivy League Women\u2019s Swimming and Diving Championships.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Kathryn Riley<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cI did HRT knowing and accepting I might not swim again,\u201d she said. \u201cI was just trying to live my life.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Thomas started feeling \u201ca lot better and healthier pretty quickly\u201d once starting hormone replacement therapy. She then came to the realization between her sophomore and junior years that she wanted to swim with other women at Penn.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas ultimately competed with men during her junior year, first donning a women\u2019s suit in the 1,000-yard freestyle against Columbia male swimmers in November 2019.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas, previously known as Will, then started identifying as Lia Catherine Thomas on New Year\u2019s Eve 2020 after her mother came up with the name.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a milestone in a very long process of transitioning where you feel like this is who I am, and I\u2019m going to live this,\u201d Thomas told Sports Illustrated. \u201cIn a way, it was sort of a rebirth, for the first time in my life, feeling fully connected to my name and who I am and living who I am. I am Lia.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After taking a year off to keep her final season of eligibility intact, Thomas started swimming with Penn again in the summer of 2021 \u2014 nearly two years after starting hormone replacement therapy.<\/p>\n<p>She went on to dominate a November 2021 meet, posting NCAA season-best times in 200-yard freestyle and 500-yard freestyle. Her torrid pace has continued of late as well, <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/02\/18\/lia-thomas-wins-200-meter-title-at-ivy-league-championships\/\">setting two pool records last month<\/a> at the Ivy League championships while taking home two titles.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-nypost-small-post is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/Transgender-swimmer-lia-thomas-sports-illustrated-01.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/Transgender-swimmer-lia-thomas-sports-illustrated-01.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all&#038;w=231\" alt=\"Thomas reacts after her team wins the 400 yard freestyle relay at the Feb. 19 competition.\" class=\"wp-image-21400389\" width=\"251\" height=\"316\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/Transgender-swimmer-lia-thomas-sports-illustrated-01.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all&#038;w=502 502w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/Transgender-swimmer-lia-thomas-sports-illustrated-01.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all&#038;w=377 376w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/Transgender-swimmer-lia-thomas-sports-illustrated-01.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all&#038;w=251 251w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/Transgender-swimmer-lia-thomas-sports-illustrated-01.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all&#038;w=126 125w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/Transgender-swimmer-lia-thomas-sports-illustrated-01.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all 1024w\" \/><\/a><figcaption>Thomas celebrates after her team wins the 400 yard freestyle relay at the Feb. 19 competition.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Kathryn Riley<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve been reinvigorated,\u201d Thomas said. \u201cI\u2019ve been swimming for 17 years, but for [only] a short part of that time have I felt fully engaged. After coming and being my authentic self, I could really start to see a future. Before I came out, I couldn\u2019t visualize a future.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Not everyone was supportive of Thomas\u2019 journey, however, including some members of her own team. Sixteen members of Penn\u2019s women\u2019s team said <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/02\/04\/16-penn-swimmers-say-lia-thomas-should-be-barred-from-competition\/\">she should be barred from competition<\/a> after swimming for three years at the school with other men, claiming she has an \u201cunfair biological advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Thomas has been allowed to compete this season because she had <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/02\/08\/lia-thomas-eligible-for-ivy-league-swimming-championships\/\">been taking testosterone suppression treatment<\/a> for more than a year. She was ruled eligible to compete at this year\u2019s Ivy League championships as eligibility requirements are now left up to individual sports.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas, who has applied to law school, now has her sights set on representing Team USA at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. But first she\u2019ll swim in the NCAA Women\u2019s Division I Swimming and Diving Championships starting on March 16 in Atlanta, where she\u2019s favored to win the 200- and 500-yard freestyle events.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know exactly what the future of my swimming will look like after this year, but I would love to continue doing it,\u201d Thomas told Sports Illustrated. \u201cI want to swim and compete as who I am.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/Transgender-swimmer-lia-thomas-sports-illustrated-02.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"681\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/Transgender-swimmer-lia-thomas-sports-illustrated-02.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all&#038;w=1024\" alt=\"\u201cI want to swim and compete as who I am,\" Thomas said \/><\/a><figcaption>\u201cI want to swim and compete as who I am,\u201d Thomas said.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Kathryn Riley<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>But Thomas realizes she\u2019s isn\u2019t swimming against the tide just for herself.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI just want to show trans kids and younger trans athletes that they\u2019re not alone,\u201d she said. \u201cThey don\u2019t have to choose between who they are and the sport they love.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Transgender swimmer Lia Thomas is pushing back against critics who say she doesn\u2019t belong in the pool with other women, declaring \u201cI\u2019m not a man.\u201d The 22-year-old University<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1358211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1358211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1358211"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1358211\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1358211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1358211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1358211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}