Transgender swimmer Lia Thomas bashes teammates as 'fake' feminists over perceived lack of support | Washington Examiner
By: Washington Examiner
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Transgenderswimmer Lia Thomas bashed the University of Pennsylvania's women's swim team, accusing it of failing to provide proper support.
Thomas made a number of fiery comments in an appearance on the Dear Schuyler podcast, hosted by another transgender athlete, Schuyler Bailar. The controversial swimmer bashed the women's swim team as having "implicit bias against trans people" and only offering "half-support."
"They're like, 'Oh, we respect Lia as a woman, as a trans woman, whatever, we respect her identity, we just don't think it's fair,'" Thomas said. "You can't really have that half-support. Like, 'I respect you as a woman here, but not here.'"
"They're using the guise of feminism to sort of push transphobic beliefs. I think a lot of people in that camp sort of carry an implicit bias against trans people but don't want to, I guess, fully manifest or speak that out," the swimmer added. "And so they try to just play it off as this sort of half-support."
Bailar claimed that people who argue biological men shouldn't compete in women's sports are rejecting science and reusing past arguments from people who said it wasn't fair for black women to compete in white women's sports because they looked different. Thomas agreed with both statements.
Former championship swimmer-turned-women's sports advocate Riley Gaines hit back at Thomas's comments in a statement to the Washington Examiner, accusing the swimmer of trying to "gaslight" women.
"I take issue with the idea that strong, brave women are fake feminists. We are fighting for our right to privacy, safety, and fairness, as well as the essence of Title IX rights," she said. "In this podcast, Lia Thomas attempted to gaslight women for feeling uncomfortable with men taking our spots on the podium, taking our titles, taking our scholarships, and taking away our opportunities. It's selfish, and it's wrong. I encourage women across America to join me in this fundamental fight for the right to be a woman."
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So a man, pretending to be a woman, is mad that real women don't support a man pretending to be a woman.
No, a transgender woman is mad some people are focusing on her claiming its about supporting women, but have never called out the real problems women in sports have faced for many years.
What would that be? Not enough men pretending to be women competing?
Rampant sexual assault and the pay gap for starters.
And you think allowing men in is going to slow that?
It's a matter of ticket sales. And this is NCAA. I don't think they are paid.
What does that have to do with men pretending to be women.
What about the reports of transgender women (biological males) sexually assaulting biological females?
When women sports draw in as much money as men's sports; then the pay will reflect it.
What you are claiming the USFL and XFL should be paid like NFL players/coaches- because they do the same jobs.
Forget the difference in talent levels; and the fact the USFL and XFL don't draw in nearly the money of the NFL.
But if leftists keep allowing enough men to compete in women's sports I am sure that will draw in more viewers and money./S
If they acknowledge that then they would have to admit there is a problem with supporting men pretending to be women.
It doesn't and that's the point.
I'm unaware of such a problem. Perhaps you can conjure up a link to a reputable source for such a claim?
No, but making the mountain out of the molehill of trans people isn't going to fix the bigger and more important issues either.
So it's really not about supporting women?
Did you not hear of the young man in Loudoun County Virginia who did just that in a school bathroom, got transferred to another school and repeated?
It really is about supporting real women.
Why do you support these faux female fakers?.
It's really not relevant to this article.
The pay gap favors women.
In almost every sport, there are men who are far more capable making less money than the women, if they even get paid at all.
There is no rule that prohibits women from competing against the men in the open leagues.
Brittney Griner can play for any NBA team she's good enough to make. Megan Rapinoe has exactly the same opportunity to win Anthony Martial's job as anybody else.
Where are NT's women?
I have to conclude that leftist women don't care about women. They do as they are told.
Perhaps too ashamed to speak out?
Especially the ones with daughters?
Yep, the hive mentality of the left.
Wokeness is mental illness. The insanity you have to believe to support this crap is off the charts.
Time to end title IX, just have sports since it doesn't matter if you are male or female anymore.
Yep, no more men’s and women’s sports. We will now just have sports with no gender separation. Men and women competing against each other in all sports.
Give the people what they want .......
Thunder Dome!
Can you imagine what is going to happen when a 6'4" 300 pound lineman who runs the 40 in 4.2 decides he wants a field hockey scholarship instead of getting beat up to play football?
The little bitch couldn’t hack it against men so now he has to stroke his ego by beating women.
A sad excuse for a human being ......
I coached high school and college female athletes for a long time, so I have actually advocated for them. In my experience, that advocacy often had to be in the form of demanding the same quality of opportunities, equipment, and facilities that male athletes enjoyed.
So, I don’t support Lia Thomas swimming competitively with women. I will advocate for trans folks in any other way, but competitive sports is where I draw a line. Fortunately, it doesn’t come up a lot.
Sports are segregated by sex for reasons of biology and anatomy - not gender. The boys and the girls are not separated out of some traditional social construct where the old folks think boys should be with boys, and girls with girls because that’s “proper” or something.
Sports are segregated because as a general matter, males who have been through puberty tend to be bigger, stronger, and faster than their female peers simply due to the fact of their male biology. For most competitive sports, this means girls simply can’t compete.
Gender identity in this context is irrelevant. Lia Thomas’s time in puberty as a male has given her the natural physical advantages of being male. And those advantages don’t just go away.
Apparently, all his life, Bruce Jenner identified internally as female, but that didn’t change the fact that his biology - and training - made him, for a time, the best male athlete on the planet. That also made him the best athlete - period. Any gender dysphoria he was experiencing wasn’t going to change that.
On this point, I agree. There is talk of gaslighting in this article, and here is a point where social conservatives are doing the gaslighting. The idea that these people ever gave a shit about opportunities for women in sport is like a sick joke. What’s really going on is that trans people make them uncomfortable, and they are justifying much of their bigoted rhetoric and discriminatory legislation by claiming they want to protect women. That’s bullshit.
Sounds like we have similar backgrounds with regards to coaching, and... unsurprisingly... we agree 100% on this issue. I do understand that you will advocate for trans folks more strongly than I will. And yes, fortunately, it doesn't come up very often.
Per the article, Thomas is leveling this accusation at fellow members of the women's swim team. You've already said you agree with their position, not his. I presume you did not intend your accusations about apathy toward women's sports at elite female athletes.
As for social conservatives, they care intently about the sports their daughters play. Like any parents, they care about their kids getting fair opportunities.
I'm not exactly sure how this legislation is bigoted or discriminatory. It seems like common sense to me, despite the history of some of the people supporting it.