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Female UPenn Swimmers Issue Statement on Transgender Swimming Competitor Lia Thomas
Townhall ^ | 02/03/2022 | Madeline Leesman

Posted on 02/03/2022 9:42:43 AM PST by SeekAndFind

Female swimmers at the University of Pennsylvania published a statement this week about their teammate, William “Lia” Thomas, who is a biological male competing on the women’s swim team. In the statement, which was shared with ESPN, the swimmers voiced their support for Thomas’ transition and said they “value her as a person, teammate, and friend.”

As I covered, Thomas made headlines in recent months for breaking two national women’s records at a competition in Ohio. In the 1,650-yard freestyle, the runner-up finished 38 seconds behind Thomas. At a competition last month, Thomas was “crushed” in two races by a biological female competing for the men’s swim at Yale University.

This week, which I reported, USA Swimming announced a new “inclusion” policy surrounding biological males who identify as females and want to compete on a women’s swim team at the elite level. The updated policy requires that the swimmer must show a concentration of testosterone in their blood that is less than 5 nanomoles per liter continuously for at least 36 months. The policy affects swimmers in the 13-14 age group and older and those who wish to break American swimming records.

"'We want to express our full support for Lia in her transition,’ the athletes said. ‘We value her as a person, teammate, and friend. The sentiments put forward by an anonymous member of our team are not representative of the feelings, values, and opinions of the entire Penn team, composed of 39 women with diverse backgrounds.'

The statement was not signed, but a Penn spokesperson said it represented ‘several’ members of the team.

Since Thomas' record-setting performance at the Zippy Invitational in December, multiple outlets have published anonymous critical comments attributed to members of the Penn swimming and diving community, including swimmers and parents. Outside of Tuesday's statement, no members of the swimming team or the coaching staff have made official comments to the media.

Said the athletes in the statement, ‘We recognize this is a matter of great controversy and are doing our best to navigate it while still focusing on doing our best in the pool and classroom.’"

Last month, as I covered, one of Thomas’ female teammates, who spoke to The Washington Examiner on the condition of anonymity, told the outlet that “Lia was not even close to being competitive as a man in the 50 and the 100 (freestyle events),” but “because Lia is biologically a man, [Lia] is just naturally better than many females in the 50 and the 100 or anything that [Lia] wasn’t good at as a man.” The remarks were published by the Examiner shortly after Thomas competed against biological females and won against Harvard University.

In a separate interview with the Examiner, a female UPenn swimmer spoke on the condition of anonymity where she claimed Thomas  “compares herself to Jackie Robinson” and “mocks” competing on the women’s team, which I reported.

“It’s been super draining and frustrating,” the swimmer said in the interview. “No one seems to care about the actual women.”



TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: Pennsylvania
KEYWORDS: belongsinbloggers; bloggers; genderdysphoria; homosexualagenda; liathomas; madelineleesman; penmcheats; penncheats; swimming; townscrawl; transgender; upenn; willthomas
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1 posted on 02/03/2022 9:42:43 AM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

Anonymous statement designed to silence critics.


2 posted on 02/03/2022 9:45:05 AM PST by Magnum44 (...against all enemies, foreign and domestic...)
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To: fatima; Fresh Wind; st.eqed; xsmommy; House Atreides; Nowhere Man; PaulZe; brityank; Physicist; ...

Pennsylvania Ping!

Please ping me with articles of interest.

FReepmail me to be added to the list.

3 posted on 02/03/2022 9:46:01 AM PST by lightman (I am a binary Trinitarian. Deal with it!)
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To: Magnum44
Anonymous statement designed to silence critics.

Absolutely.

4 posted on 02/03/2022 9:46:45 AM PST by Mark17 (USAF ATCer, Retired. Father of USAF pilot. ATCers & pilots, the quintessential elements of aviation)
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To: SeekAndFind

Anonymous statement responding to anonymous statement.

“We want to express our full support for Lia in her transition,” the athletes said. “We value her as a person, teammate, and friend. The sentiments put forward by an anonymous member of our team are not representative of the feelings, values, and opinions of the entire Penn team, composed of 39 women with diverse backgrounds.”


5 posted on 02/03/2022 9:48:46 AM PST by TexasGator (UF)
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To: SeekAndFind

Teammates likely threatened with voided scholarships and kicked of the team if they objected.


6 posted on 02/03/2022 9:49:02 AM PST by G Larry (The "Racism" charge is code for "No Intelligent Argument")
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To: SeekAndFind
It should be:
We support Lia as a person and a friend.
We ask in return that she support us and our sport by voluntarily resigning from the team.

7 posted on 02/03/2022 9:49:43 AM PST by BitWielder1 (I'd rather have Unequal Wealth than Equal Poverty.)
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To: SeekAndFind

A question to ask is how they feel sharing a shower with “her”?


8 posted on 02/03/2022 9:49:49 AM PST by where's_the_Outrage? (Drain the Swamp. Build the Wall.)
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To: SeekAndFind

A question to ask is how they feel sharing a shower with “her”?


9 posted on 02/03/2022 9:50:32 AM PST by where's_the_Outrage? (Drain the Swamp. Build the Wall.)
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To: G Larry

The elites are trying to cram their perversions down the throats of the masses.


10 posted on 02/03/2022 9:51:03 AM PST by cgbg (A kleptocracy--if they can keep it. Think of it as the Cantillon Effect in action.)
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To: SeekAndFind

If they called him a her, there is no need to read further.
Period.


11 posted on 02/03/2022 9:51:23 AM PST by Da Coyote
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To: lightman

Wish they’d stop calling Will Thomas by that fake name.


12 posted on 02/03/2022 9:51:56 AM PST by Olog-hai ("No Republican, no matter how liberal, is going to woo a Democratic vote." -- Ronald Reagan, 1960)
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To: SeekAndFind
The left has become militant and very effective at it.

Anyone who dares to stray from the BLTGQ society agenda will be brutalized via social media.

Jobs and entire futures of anyone (and their families) will be attacked.

Its scary how quickly the left has perfected their militancy.

13 posted on 02/03/2022 9:53:23 AM PST by airborne (Thank you Rush for helping me find FreeRepublic! )
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To: SeekAndFind

This did not happen. No one believes these people anymore. The world liberals want to exist. Does not exist.


14 posted on 02/03/2022 9:53:40 AM PST by FreeperCell
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To: SeekAndFind

“Not signed”


15 posted on 02/03/2022 9:54:10 AM PST by Skywise
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Arthur Wildfire! March; Berosus; Bockscar; BraveMan; cardinal4; ...
Partisan Media Shill and Stooge alert.

16 posted on 02/03/2022 9:54:31 AM PST by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Statement not even signed. What a fraud.


17 posted on 02/03/2022 9:54:47 AM PST by hinckley buzzard ( Resist the narrative.)
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To: Da Coyote
Ms. Leesman looks a bit out of her depth herself.


18 posted on 02/03/2022 9:56:22 AM PST by Olog-hai ("No Republican, no matter how liberal, is going to woo a Democratic vote." -- Ronald Reagan, 1960)
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To: airborne

“Its scary how quickly the left has perfected their militancy.”

The left has a simple rule: Play dirty.

Our team wants to play by polite and civilized rules.

The results are totally predictable.


19 posted on 02/03/2022 9:56:32 AM PST by cgbg (A kleptocracy--if they can keep it. Think of it as the Cantillon Effect in action.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Feel-good statement that means nothing without signatures. One person from anywhere could’ve written that, maybe even just the guy pretending to be a girl.


20 posted on 02/03/2022 9:56:41 AM PST by skr (May God confound the enemy)
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