Trans Swimmer Lia Thomas Is Denied NCAA "Woman Of The Year" Award
William Thomas was ranked 462nd on the men's swim team at the University of Pennsylvania. He decided to grow his hair out and change his pronouns—and ever since, he has been dominating women's collegiate swim. He was even recently nominated for NCAA Woman of the Year by UPenn.
The whole country has been watching William Thomas dominate women's swimming, wondering how we ended up at a point where men are allowed to break women's records and steal medals away from women. To add insult to injury, UPenn even announced that Thomas was nominated for NCAA Woman of the Year.
Trans Swimmer Lia Thomas Is Denied NCAA "Woman of the Year" Award
Thomas, 22, was nominated along with 577 women for an award that is meant to honor "female student-athletes who have exhausted their eligibility and distinguished themselves in their community, in athletics and in academics throughout their college careers." There was much backlash about this nomination, pointing out that Thomas was even set to steal awards away from young women after stealing their hard-earned medals and records.
Many people are happy to learn that Thomas lost the bid to become Woman of the Year. The NCAA announced its conference selections on Monday, and Sylvie Binder, Columbia University fencer, was selected to advance to the next round.
This comes after the media has entirely praised Thomas for his achievements, giving him a platform to announce that "trans women are women."
"It’s no different than a cis woman taking a spot on a travel team or a scholarship,” Thomas said in an ESPN interview in May. “It’s a part of athletics, where people are competing against each other. It’s not taking away opportunities from cis women, really. Trans women are women, so it’s still a woman who is getting that scholarship or that opportunity.”
Just last month, the international federation FINA implemented new rules that prohibited trans athletes from competing who have transitioned after the age of 12. Even if Thomas is banned from all future meets, it doesn't change the fact that he has stolen multiple medals away from women already.