The Ivy League continued its assault on collegiate female athletes by deciding that a biological man can compete in women’s swimming.
Lia Thomas, the controversial transgender swimmer on the University of Pennsylvania’s swimming team, will be eligible to compete in the Ivy League conference championships at Harvard University between Feb. 16-19, an Ivy League representative told Swimming World. This comes on the heels of both the NCAA and USA Swimming updating their policies on transgender athletes competing on collegiate teams.
“The recent rule changes do not impact Lia’s eligibility for this month’s Ivy League Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships as the effective date, for this unprecedented midseason NCAA policy change begins with the 2022 NCAA Winter Championships,” an Ivy League spokesperson told Swimming World.
A female swimmer at the University of Pennsylvania spoke to me on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. In an interview conducted before the Ivy League’s decision and the recent policy changes by the NCAA and USA Swimming, the swimmer made clear her belief that Lia’s participation is unfair to female athletes.
And, in reality, the swimmer is absolutely right. Those supporting Thomas do so out of nonsensical fanaticism. Despite evidence showing the significant advantages male swimmers have over women, leftists have continued to support Thomas.
“The Left care more about transgender people than they do about women,” the Penn swimmer told me.
USA Swimming updated its policies last week regarding transgender athletes. In this update, it cited specific statistical data that highlighted “a competitive difference in the male and female categories and the disadvantages this presents in elite head-to-head competition.” It showed that the top-ranked female swimmer in 2021, on average, would “be ranked 536th across all short course yards (25 yards) male events in the country and 326th across all long course meters (50 meters) male events in the country.” USA Swimming noted that these results “support the need for competitive equity at the most elite levels of competition.”
Despite this evidence, the Ivy League just does not care.
“Equity” is a favored topic for the Left these days. This word is often repeated to highlight any discrepancy between how people are regarded, no matter its nature. But this goes out the window when a male wants to compete with females in women’s sports.
“It’s a big ‘screw you’ to women,” the Penn swimmer said. “This is the ‘cool’ thing to do right now,” she added regarding the enabling of males competing in women’s sports. “I’m positive that no one thinks this is OK. Or at least anyone with a brain, anyone with an education. Anyone knows there are differences between men and women. And I really think that they need to be called out, name by name, and called misogynists. Because then, maybe they’ll be afraid.”
She also felt that the people making these decisions should get a taste of the treatment they fear happening if they speak out in favor of protecting women’s sports.
“I really want to start calling out every single athletic director or every athletic department person, every Penn administrator, every single NCAA director, and start calling them out by name, everywhere that I can, and say, ‘This person,’ by name, is a misogynist.”
She felt that because they are so intimidated at being called names, they should be called names for their role in remaining silent or supporting Thomas.
I am inclined to agree. And maybe, just maybe, if that happens, these people will grow a spine — or give in to their cowardice for a better cause.
