Transgender swimmer Lia Thomas stripped of titles after Donald Trump order
A transgender swimmer is set to be stripped of her championship titles with US President Donald Trump finally getting his wish.
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Transgender swimming champion Lia Thomas will be stripped of her University of Pennsylvania swimming titles after the Ivy League college on Tuesday bowed to pressure from the Trump administration.
The prestigious university will also issue formal apologies to every biological female competitor who lost out to a transgender competitor following an investigation by the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR), The New York Post reports.
The investigation found the University violated Title IX by “allowing a male to compete in female athletic programs and occupy female-only intimate facilities”.
Title IX is a civil rights law introduced in 1972 that prohibits sex-based discrimination in any education or athletic setting.
The department opened its investigation in February after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order banning transgender girls and women from participating in girls’ and women’s sports.
Secretary of Education Linda McMahon celebrated the university’s decision in a statement released on Tuesday.
“Today’s resolution agreement with UPenn is yet another example of the Trump effect in action,” she said.
“Thanks to the leadership of President Trump, UPenn has agreed both to apologise for its past Title IX violations and to ensure that women’s sports are protected at the University for future generations of female athletes.”
The resolution agreement signed by the university will require it to undertake a host of additional actions, including adopting “biology-based definitions for ‘male’ and ‘female’ under Title IX” and issuing a public statement that it will no longer allow biological men to compete in female athletic programs or occupy women-only locker rooms.
The University of Pennsylvania has agreed to restore all individual Division I swimming records and titles to female athletes who lost out to Thomas.
The 26-year-old in March, 2022, became the first transgender athlete to win the highest level of NCAA title.
She also won several other swim meet events in college-level competitions where her name will now be wiped from history.
The record times she set in 500m freestyle and 200m freestyle will also no longer be recognised.
The decision was cheered by athletes who were impacted by the inclusion of trans athletes in women’s sports in recent years.
“As a former UPenn swimmer who had to compete against and share a locker room with a male athlete, I am deeply grateful to the Trump Administration for refusing to back down on protecting women and girls and restoring our rightful accolades. I am also pleased that my alma mater has finally agreed to take not only the lawful path, but the honourable one,” said Paula Scanlan, a former University of Pennsylvania swimmer.
Riley Gaines, a former University of Kentucky swimmer who has been outspoken on the issue, said, “It is my hope that today demonstrates to educational institutions that they will no longer be allowed to trample upon women’s civil rights, and renews hope in every female athlete that their country’s highest leadership will not relent until they have the dignity, safety, and fairness they deserve.”
Trump in February said he signed the executive order to stop “a war on women’s sports”.
“We are putting every school receiving taxpayer dollars on notice that if you let men take over women’s sports teams or invade your locker rooms, you will be investigated for violations of Title IX and risk your federal funding. There will be no federal funding,” he said.
— This story originally appeared on The New York Post and has been republished with permission
Originally published as Transgender swimmer Lia Thomas stripped of titles after Donald Trump order
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