Three Former Penn Swimmers Sue over Lia Thomas; NCAA Presents Transgender Steerage
Three former Penn swimmers have introduced a lawsuit over the participation of transgender swimmer Lia Thomas three years in the past. The litigation comes within the shadow of a looming govt order on transgender participation in faculty sport, to which the NCAA responded late Wednesday.
Swimmers Grace Estabrook, Ellen Holmquist and Margot Kaczorowski swam alongside Thomas at Penn. They’re suing Penn, Harvard, the Ivy League and the NCAA claiming that their Title IX rights had been violated by these entities permitting Thomas to compete.
Thomas competed on the boys’s group at Penn earlier than transitioning gender. As a senior in 2021-22, she received Ivy League titles within the 100 free, 200 free and 500 free. Thomas received an NCAA title within the 500 free, tied for fifth within the 200 free and completed eighth within the 100 free.
The swimmers search to problem the applying of NCAA’s coverage on transgender athletes, instituted in 2010. It’s looking for damages for, “ache and struggling, psychological and emotional misery, struggling and nervousness, bills prices and different damages in opposition to the NCAA, Ivy League, Harvard, and UPenn because of their wrongful conduct.”
The lawsuit was filed on the identical day that President Donald Trump signed an govt order directing federal companies to make sure exclusion of transgender athletes. The White Home is utilizing the motion to make federal funding contingent on its interpretation of Title IX. It’ll require that “intercourse” be interpreted as an individual’s gender as assigned at delivery.
The NCAA responded to the manager order with this assertion from president Charlie Baker, which affords little resistance to the motion:
“The NCAA is a company made up of 1,100 schools and universities in all 50 states that collectively enroll greater than 530,000 student-athletes. We strongly consider that clear, constant, and uniform eligibility requirements would finest serve as we speak’s student-athletes as an alternative of a patchwork of conflicting state legal guidelines and courtroom choices. To that finish, President Trump’s order gives a transparent, nationwide commonplace.
“The NCAA Board of Governors is reviewing the manager order and can take needed steps to align NCAA coverage within the coming days, topic to additional steerage from the administration. The Affiliation will proceed to assist foster welcoming environments on campuses for all student-athletes. We stand prepared to help faculties as they search for methods to help any student-athletes affected by adjustments within the coverage.”
