University strips trans athlete of titles amid concessions to Trump
The University of Pennsylvania has stripped William “Lia” Thomas of his swimming titles amid concessions to the Trump administration regarding men in women’s sports.
Thomas, who identifies as transgender, caused outrage in 2022 when he competed for the NCAA women’s swimming championship at UPenn. He tied for fifth place in the 200 freestyle with Riley Gaines, who has since become an activist for women’s spaces, and came in first in the 500 freestyle. He was celebrated as a “civil rights icon” for being the first transgender to win an NCAA Division I national championship. UPenn’s administration — then headed by President Elizabeth Magill — ordered the team not to discuss Thomas with the media, said a former teammate.
UPenn agrees to right the ship
UPenn has now agreed to strip Thomas of his titles as the Trump administration cracks down on institutions that allow men to compete against women. The Department of Education has reportedly reached an agreement with UPenn in which the university will ban male participation in women’s sports, grant female athletes the titles they lost to male competitors, and issue a personal apology to all female athletes.
“Today is a great victory for women and girls not only at the University of Pennsylvania, but all across our nation,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement. “The Department commends UPenn for rectifying its past harms against women and girls, and we will continue to fight relentlessly to restore Title IX’s proper application and enforce it to the fullest extent of the law.”
‘Are pigs flying?’
Gaines reacted to the news by praising President Trump.
"UPenn has agreed to right its wrongs, restore records to the rightful female athletes, and issue an apology to the women impacted by the man they allowed to compete as a woman. Are pigs flying? God bless @realDonaldTrump,” she posted to X.
‘Demeaning, unfair, and dangerous to women and girls’
In early February, Trump signed an executive order to withhold federal funding from institutions that allow men in women’s sports.
“In recent years, many educational institutions and athletic associations have allowed men to compete in women’s sports,” the EO reads. “This is demeaning, unfair, and dangerous to women and girls, and denies women and girls the equal opportunity to participate and excel in competitive sports.”
“Therefore, it is the policy of the United States to rescind all funds from educational programs that deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities, which results in the endangerment, humiliation, and silencing of women and girls and deprives them of privacy,” the order continued. “It shall also be the policy of the United States to oppose male competitive participation in women’s sports more broadly, as a matter of safety, fairness, dignity, and truth.”
