The Transgender Swimmer Controversy By Mrs Vera West
First, it was weight lifters, now it is swimmers that are causing controversies in women’s sport, or what was formerly women’s sport. Transgender swimmer Lia Thomas, has been smashing women’s swimming contests across America. Only Lia was a man a few years ago, and still has a penis, but presumably is taking androgen supressing drugs. Still, I have seen videos of women swimmers saying that this is unfair competition, since Thomas still has natural advantages from male bone structure and muscle development. I agree, but in the short term there seems to be nothing to stop this. We will see the end of women’s sports if the present social construction of gender thing is taken to its bitter conclusion. Biological men could in principle wake up one day, and just define themselves as women and go out and conquer. My grandson trained at a gym which had monthly contests. A transgender person objected to having separate male and female contests. Thus, to prove a point, my grandson contested the once female contest, and smashed everything up on the board. After that the monthly contests were abandoned.
“Controversial transgender University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas is once again looking like a favorite to bury the competition after setting yet another record during the NCAA championship prelims in Atlanta.
Thomas destroyed the competition again in the 500 freestyle prelims Thursday with a 4:33.82 final, a new top time in the nation, Outkick reported.
The controversial swimmer’s inclusion in the event was not without protests. As ESPN noted, a group waving signs protested outside Georgia Tech’s McAuley Aquatic Center. Some of the signs read, “Support fair sports for women and girls,” and “That man is a cheat.”
Denver resident and mother of two daughters Jeanna Hoch told ESPN that she traveled to Atlanta to support women’s sports. “I came to support women and girls. They do not have the same opportunities that I had. There is no single-sex competition anymore,” she said.
Thomas is not the only high-profile competitor at this year’s championships. Olympian Brooke Forde, who swam for Stanford, is also competing this year. Forde won the silver at the Tokyo Games with the American 4×200-meter freestyle relay team.
Forde’s father, Pat, recently said he is not so sure it is fair that Lia Thomas — who was born a man and has still not undergone any surgical alterations to his genitalia — is competing against biological females.
“People don’t necessarily have to agree. I’m not sure I agree completely because I’m not sure this is a level playing field,” Pat Forde said in January, Outkick noted. “My daughter’s thing is, ‘I’m the one who has to get into the pool with her, and I’m fine with it,’ so I think some people could take a good lesson from that.”
Indeed, the Forde family recently released a statement in Brooke’s name addressing the fact that Brooke would be competing against the biologically male Thomas.
I have great respect for Lia. Social change is always a slow and difficult process and we rarely get it correct right away. Being among the first to lead such a social change requires an enormous amount of courage, and I admire Lia for her leadership that will undoubtedly benefit many trans athletes in the future.
In 2020, I along with most swimmers, experienced what it was like to have my chance to achieve my swimming goals taken away after years of hard work. I would not wish this experience on anyone, especially Lia, who has followed the rules required of her. I believe that treating people with respect and dignity is more important than any trophy or record will ever be, which is why I will not have a problem racing against Lia at NCAAs this year.
Pat Forde also wondered if there would be a time when transgender athletes only compete against other transgender athletes. But he also felt that the whole discussion is a surrogate for politics.
“It is funny. Some of the folks who are really wound up about this and screaming about the fairness about women’s sports really don’t give a damn about women’s sports,” Pat Forde exclaimed, according to Yahoo Sports. “They are using this as a political wedge issue, and they are using it as a sign the country has absolutely run amok and has lost its mind to political correctness and blah blah blah. There are a lot of political opinions about this, but some of them are cloaked, I think, in bogus terms.”
Still, a “bogus” debate or not, Thomas has been obliterating records set by generations of female swimmers since leaving UPenn’s men’s team and joining the women’s team after claiming to have “transitioned” to become a woman.”
“He may as well have said, "Don't let your lying eyes deceive you."
Because the proof was right there in front of a decidedly woke man and a refreshingly un-woke woman who were seen on video arguing in the bleachers about transgender swimmer Lia Thomas — a biological male who identifies as female — who was at that very moment, in the process of destroying the competition at the NCAA women's swimming championships Thursday.
What are the details?
As Thomas was far out in front of female swimmers in the 500-yard freestyle preliminaries — the University of Pennsylvania athlete later won the NCAA finals in the event amid booing — the pair appeared to be in the middle of a debate. The woman asked the masked man, “So you’re saying that his body is the same as the girls in the pool?”
The man argued back: “Every body is different.”
“No, no," the woman replied. "So, you’re saying he doesn’t have male organs?”
He? Uh oh. That's on the left's list of fighting words. The guy then dutifully corrected the woman's misgendering, saying "she" with some emphasis in reference to Thomas and adding that the woman was "twisting words."
“I’m a woman; that is not a woman,” his adversary declared. “Do you have ovaries?”
Apparently uncomfortable answering the question, he tried to turn the tables on her: “Can I ask you a question?”
Then out it came: “Are you a biologist?”
“Oh my god, don’t be ridiculous!" the woman shot back. "I’m not a vet, but I know what a dog is. You rely on stupid arguments because you don’t have an argument. I’m not an astrophysicist, but I know what space is.”
The guy — who may have been the captain of his high school debate team, we're checking on that — quietly replied, “Yeah, but that doesn’t mean you know how space works. I’m happy to have a real conversation with you if you'd like.”
The woman had enough: “If you don’t think this is going to destroy women’s sports, if this is alright with you, then I’m sorry, but it’s insane. Absolutely insane.”
Anything else?
Thomas, who was favored to win the 500-yard freestyle, finished that championship race in 4:33.24 — the fastest time in the NCAA this season, the 11th fastest time in NCAA history, and 16th fastest time ever, SwimSwam said.
The second-place finisher — Emma Weyant, a University of Virginia freshman — clocked a career-best time of 4:34.99. But that wasn't enough to eclipse Thomas, who beat Weyant by almost two seconds and more than a full body length. Not incidentally, Weyant won the silver medal in the 400-meter individual medley at the 2020 Olympic Games — long before Thomas was making national headlines.
Thomas on Friday qualified for the NCAA women's final in the 200-yard freestyle, which is scheduled to take place at 6 p.m. EST.”
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