Anthony Farris
Videos by OutKick
A teammate of transgender swimmer Lia Thomas is speaking out against the University of Pennsylvania, claiming the school was more concerned with swim meet wins and attention than the feelings of those women swimming with and against Thomas.
“If you even bring up the fact that Lia swimming might not be fair, you are immediately shut down as being called a hateful person, or transphobic,” a Thomas teammate, who wished to remain anonymous, told author Matt Walsh.
The comments from Thomas’ teammate were aired in a trailer for Walsh’s new film “What Is A Woman,” premiering Wednesday evening.
Walsh’s portion of the film was released, just hours after Thomas appeared on “Good Morning America” / ESPN. As previously detailed by OutKick, Thomas insisted she did not transition to win medals and stated: “We transition to be happy and authentic and our true selves. Transitioning to get an advantage is not something that ever factors into our decisions.”
GMA interviewed Lia Thomas today. Great timing. Our film features one of Thomas's teammates. She told me that women on her team were silenced and referred to psychological counseling if they objected to having Thomas on the team. More in the full film: https://t.co/xibkNa4oHW pic.twitter.com/YRRf2S712a
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) May 31, 2022
Teammates of Thomas’ don’t necessarily agree. They’ve noticed an obvious advantage. “Lia obviously helps us do better. Lia’s swimming really fast,” said her anonymous teammate. “Lia’s performance helps the University of Pennsylvania swim team.
“The feeling of winning doesn’t feel as good anymore because it feels tainted.”
Despite having thoughts and questions surrounding the team rostering a swimmer who was born a male and gives the squad a clear advantage, the remaining PENN swimmers have been silenced. “There’s a lot of things you couldn’t talk about that were very concerning, like a locker room situation,” Walsh was told by Thomas’ teammate. “If you even brought up concerns about it you were transphobic.”
“#LiaThomas trying to argue that trans athletes aren’t a threat to women’s athletics is a lie. She never would have won a championship as a man.” – @ClayTravis pic.twitter.com/XbLfA1Z6Sp
— OutKick (@Outkick) June 1, 2022
When Walsh asked if the University of Pennsylvania ever sat the swimmers down to acknowledge their emotions, the interviewee said an LGBTQ representative spoke to the team, along with someone from the school’s psychological services department.
Those meetings however, appeared to be one-sided. “They said, ‘Look, we understand there’s an array of emotions, but Lia’s swimming is a non-negotiable. However we can help you make that OK, that’s what we’re here for,’” Thomas’ teammate added.
You’d think the Ivy League school would listen to it’s emotionally-affected athletes, but then again, maybe the administration has swimmer’s ear.
Follow along on Twitter: @OhioAF
Geez, I wonder why no trans transitioning to being a man competes against men? I thought it was about being their “authentic self” and being “true to their gender”, not about winning. Hmmmmm…
To your point, there is a swimmer from Yale that transitioned from female to male last year, Iszak Henig. She still swam on Yale’s WOMEN’S swim team as a trans man, you know, because its about being your “authentic self,” not winning. The best part? Henig said she did not take testosterone supplements because the NCAA would have banned her from competition. In other words, if she artificially raised her testosterone levels to that of Lia Thomas, the NCAA said that would be unfair.
Welcome to bananaland.
The irony. This man says he didn’t change sexes just to win at swimming but in the same interview says it has been his life-long dream to be on the Olympic swimming team. Well dude, you were nowhere near good enough to compete with the top men so now you are a “woman”. Just tell the truth liar.
He is a man. His name is William. Stop pandering to this fraud and call him what he is.
Leon Thomas