Parents of female swimmers on the University of Pennsylvania’s swim team are calling on the NCAA to review its rules regarding transgender athletes in women’s sports.
Several parents told Fox News that they were concerned with the situation facing their daughters after transgender athlete Lia Thomas shattered two national records and competed in the school’s last home meet.
“It starts with the NCAA,” the parents of a Penn swimmer told the outlet, adding “I think the NCAA needs to change its policies, and find a way to include transgender women without trampling all over biological women.”
Sue Feldman, another parent of a swimmer, told the outlet: “I think that this is obviously an issue and they should probably just look at how they’re going to handle it and maybe handle it better in the future because right now they’re not handling it so well.”
At Penn’s last home meet, which included swimmers competing from Dartmouth College and Yale University, Thomas won the 200-yard freestyle and 500-yard freestyle but came in fifth in the 100-yard freestyle, behind Iszack Henig, a biological female claiming to be a man. As The Daily Wire reported, parents at the meet claimed Thomas seemed to be “coasting” and “barely trying” when winning the first race.
After winning the 50-yard freestyle, Henig reportedly went topless despite competing as a woman.
“I wasn’t prepared for that. Everything is messed up. I can’t wrap my head around this. The NCAA needs to do something about this. They need to put science into the decision and discussion,” one parent told the Daily Mail.
“Henig is allowed to swim against women because the Yale swimmer has not undergone transgender hormone treatment. Henig clarified that explanation further in a 2021 opinion column,” The Daily Wire reported.
The parent of a Dartmouth swimmer told Fox that “the fact that it’s gotten so much attention, it needs to be looked at more closely by the NCAA.”
Several parents told the outlet they sympathized with Thomas and the biological women competing:
“I feel like she followed all the rules that she’s supposed to follow” Feldman said, adding that she “empathizes with the other girls that are playing against her.”
The Dartmouth swimming parent said he felt for Thomas, but “it’s not fair to girls that have swum since they were 6 years old to compete…for someone who had a chance at winning the Ivy League Championship and that dream is shattered.”
Similarly, parents of the Penn women’s swimmer told Fox News they “have nothing against Lia personally” but felt for their daughter who had been “affected directly” since she swims the same events and had been “bumped out” of her spot.
“When she came on to the team, she had dreams of maybe breaking some records, things like that and that may not be possible now,” the parents told Fox News. “And she’s angry that she sees her friends being bumped from relays or a roster that travels to a meet.”
As The Daily Wire reported, the Ivy League conference stood by Thomas, stating that it “reaffirms its unwavering commitment to providing an inclusive environment for all student-athletes while condemning transphobia and discrimination in any form.”