The US swimmer Lia Thomas, who rose to global prominence after becoming the first transgender athlete to win a NCAA college title in March 2022, has lost a legal case against World Aquatics at the court of arbitration for sport – and with it any hopes of making next month’s Paris Olympics.
The 25-year-old also remains barred from swimming in the female category after failing to overturn rules introduced by swimming’s governing body in the summer of 2022, which prohibit anyone who has undergone “any part of male puberty” from the female category.
Thomas had argued that those rules should be declared “invalid and unlawful” as they were contrary to the Olympic charter and the World Aquatics constitution.
However, in a 24-page decision, the court concluded that Thomas was “simply not entitled to engage with eligibility to compete in WA competitions” as someone who was no longer a member of US swimming.
The news was welcomed by World Aquatics, who hailed it as “a major step forward in our efforts to protect women’s sport”.
First of all, she was never male any more than a gay person isn’t heterosexual before telling people they’re gay. She competed on a man’s team before coming out of the closet and was rated sixth fastest “man” in the nation at the time. Now she’s being beaten by CIS women. Sounds like whatever advantage she had when she was on that team doesn’t exist anymore, which, again, suggests it’s more complicated than just genetics.
Why people are so against the idea of “it’s more complicated than that” and think anything biological has such a simple answer is just kind of sad because it shows such ignorance of basic science.
Edit: Thanks for proving it, downvoters. Let me guess- you also think a single gene is responsible for eye color.
Pardon my ignorance, what would you call someone preop and refering to them in the past tense? Especially when competing?
If someone was married, it wouldn’t be wrong to refer to them at that time as straight or call it during their “straight phase” and we are simplifying it. Especially if you don’t know their full story.
Sounds like you’re just looking for a fight in the comments, imma bounce.
If I wanted to answer your question, I would tell you that “presenting as” is the preferred term, but since I’m just looking for a fight, I won’t tell you that.