“You are immediately shut down as transphobic or hateful”: Lia Thomas’ teammate expresses disappointment over voicing concerns
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Lia Thomas
Transgender swimmer Lia Thomas made headlines after winning an NCCA Division 1 National championship. Thomas has spent three years winning for the Penn men’s team, and then joined the women’s squad for the 2021-2022 season. There have been a lot of complaints from fellow swimmers, celebrities and parents, who feel that Thomas has an inherent advantage over the other females in competition.
Recently a teammate of Thomas also voiced her concerns about the situation, complaining that the University of Pennsylvania was more focused on winning swim meets and the attention than caring about the sentiments of the other female swimmers.
Lia Thomas’ Teammate raises concern against unfair treatment and negligence
“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 according to outkick.com. Thomas’ teammate felt that winning was no good anymore since it felt tainted, and they had to push harder beyond their means to win. “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.”
However, Thomas insisted that she did not transition to win medals and laurels. “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.”
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Saivee Phatak
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