In an Instagram video published on Monday, Will “Lia” Thomas called for additional safeguards in President Joe Biden’s new Title IX proposal to allow biological males to compete on women’s sports teams, while dismissing concerns about fairness to real girls and women as a ruse. But his case for expanding Biden’s Title IX rules is based on a lie.
“My name is Lia Thomas, I’m a transgender woman, a former college swimmer and the first trans athlete to be named Division One NCAA champion,” he begins. “I started swimming when I was five years old. It has taught me so much. It has given me so many opportunities to learn, grow, develop, and connect with my peers. Opportunities that I wouldn’t have gotten if I didn’t have access to athletics.”
During the 2021-2022 academic year, Thomas participated on the University of Pennsylvania women’s swim team. He had previously competed on the men’s team, though he was not a stellar competitor. After identifying as a “woman,” Thomas became an overnight success on the women’s team, winning several championship titles, often with significant leads. However, his success came at the expense of female athletes who lacked the physical strength of biologically male competitors like Thomas, all while being supported by the NCAA.
“That’s why it breaks my heart to see trans kids across the country lose out on these opportunities,” he continues. “The Department of Education has proposed a new rule for Title IX regarding transgender athletes. This rule would prohibit blanket bans on transgender kids — especially in grades K through 8 — however, it would not prohibit discrimination against trans kids in the high school and college levels under the guise of competitive fairness.”
Under the guise of competitive fairness? Are you really trying to say you would have won a national title against the men? Does it not break your heart to see women lose out on these opportunities?
The Biden Admins proposed bill denies science, truth, and common sense pic.twitter.com/gsJfsic1eZ
— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) April 18, 2023
Thomas says the proposed Biden rule is “a good start” but insists that it is “not enough” and claims the “trans community” needs “explicit protections for discrimination.”
Let’s make one thing very clear, Thomas is lying. He argues that access to athletics gave him opportunities and that he doesn’t want to see others “lose out on these opportunities.”
Related: When Women Don’t Want to Protect Women’s Sports
But nobody is telling kids with gender dysphoria they cannot compete in sports. It’s just not happening. The issue here isn’t that these kids aren’t being allowed to participate; it’s a question of what teams they participate on. The language being used by Thomas here is deliberately deceptive and inflammatory — and he’s not the only one doing it.
Megan Rapinoe and other women athletes recently wrote a letter to Congress expressing their opposition to the Protection of Girls and Women in Sports Act by falsely claiming that it would prohibit “transgender and intersex girls and women from participating in sports.” It does no such thing; it prohibits school athletic programs “from allowing individuals whose biological sex at birth was male to participate in programs that are for women or girls.”
There’s nothing unfair about that. It’s a fact that male athletes have some major physical and biological advantages over women. They’re usually taller and have more muscle mass and stronger bones, among other differences. That’s just biology, and it gives male athletes a serious edge in sports. This advantage doesn’t disappear when they decide to “identify” as women, and it’s not fair to pretend that it does.
Thomas wasn’t that great on the men’s swim team, but once he joined the women’s team, he started crushing it and winning national championships. But in doing so, he took opportunities away from female athletes who didn’t have his biological advantages. Now he’s trying to enable more men to follow in his footsteps by claiming that trans athletes are being shut out of sports when they are not. Asking biological males to compete against biological males isn’t denying them opportunities. It’s acknowledging physical and biological reality. Don’t fall for the fake rhetoric.
All athletes should have the opportunity to compete, but it must be done fairly and with respect for the realities of human biology.
