Following repression from President Donald Trump’s administration, a top university in the country has agreed to ban transgender athletes from women’s sports and erase records set by a prominent trans swimmer.
Tuesday marked the conclusion of a federal civil rights investigation involving transgender swimmer Lia Thomas and the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn).
Thomas, who was born in the male gender and admitted to being a trans woman in 2018, won the first-ever transgender champion title in 2022.
Thomas, who switched from being a man to a woman in the transition from being a man to a woman, also set UPenn records in five women’s events, including the 100-meter and 500-meter freestyle competitions.
LGBTQ campaigners praised the swimmer’s participation as a victory for inclusion while some of Thomas’s teammates criticized her as an assault on women’s rights, making her accomplishments the center of the debate about fairness in sport.
The university acknowledged that some student athletes had been disadvantaged by the NCAA eligibility requirements that had been in place at the time of Thomas’ participation, according to Larry Jameson, president of UPenn.
Following Trump’s executive order denying funding to educational institutions that allow trans girls and women to compete, the NCAA changed its eligibility requirements in March to only allow female-born athletes to compete in women’s events.
We are aware of this and will make amends to those who have been put at a disadvantage or have anxiety as a result of the policies in place at the time, Jameson said.
We will review and update the Penn women’s swimming records to reflect the current eligibility requirements for those who hold the records.
Thomas was later removed from the “All-Time School Records” section of UPenn’s website on Tuesday, along with a note stating that Thomas set records for the 2021-22 season under “eligibility rules in effect at the time.”
The Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights announced in April that the university had “permitted male athletes to compete in women’s intercollegiate athletics and to occupy women’s only intimate facilities,” making the decision to change.
The agreement, according to US Education Secretary Linda McMahon, was a “great victory for women and girls.”
The Department applauds UPenn for correcting its discriminatory practices against women and girls, and it will continue to fight unabated to reinstate Title IX’s proper application and full application, McMahon said in a statement.
The biggest LGBTQ advocacy groups in the US, GLAAD and Human Rights Campaign, did not respond to requests for comment right away.
The latest in a line of measures to restrict transgender participation in sports since Trump’s January return to the White House is UPenn’s announcement.
World Athletics announced in March that participants in female competitions would have to undergo DNA testing to establish their biological sex.
According to opinion polls, trans women  and girls competing against female-born athletes are increasingly popular.
Source: Aljazeera
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