Women’s groups in Pennsylvania are quiet after the University of Pennsylvania’s (UPenn) biologically male transgender swimmer Lia Thomas won the women’s National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) 500-yard freestyle swimming championship at the end of last week.
The Pennsylvania National Organization for Women (PNOW), Women’s Way and the Women’s Law Project did not return The Pennsylvania Daily Star’s Tuesday comment requests regarding whether they felt Thomas’ win was a victory for women.
Their silence is echoed by national women’s rights groups, which appear to be dodging similar questions.
“Pennsylvania NOW is the Pennsylvania state chapter of the National Organization for Women, the country’s largest feminist political organization,” according to PNOW’s website. “We are a statewide grassroots nonprofit volunteer organization with over 13,000 contributing members and 20 local chapters around the state. NOW members are women and men, young and old, all colors, classes and backgrounds, working together to bring about equal rights for all women.”
But the question of whether last week’s women’s swimming NCAA championships were actually “equal” has been up for debate since they occurred.
At least one biologically female swimmer says they were not.
Reka Gyorgy, who finished 17th in qualifying – one spot behind the 16-person championship competition field – for one of the events for which Thomas qualified, wrote an open letter to the NCAA to express her displeasure.
“Everyone has heard and known about transgender swimmer, Lia Thomas, and her case including all the issues and concerns that her situation brought into our sport,” that letter said in part.
“I’d like to point out that I respect and fully stand with Lia Thomas; I am convinced that she is no different than me or any other D1 swimmer who has woken up at 5am her entire life for morning practice. She has sacrificed family vacations and holidays for a competition,” the letter continued. “She has pushed herself to the limit to be the best athlete she could be. She is doing what she is passionate about and deserves that right. On the other hand, I would like to critique the NCAA rules that allow her to compete against us, who are biologically women.”
Thomas spent three unremarkable years on UPenn’s men’s swimming team before deciding to become a woman and compete against women.
Many conservatives refused to accept Thomas as the rightful winner, instead sending their congratulations to University of Virginia (UVA) freshman swimmer Emma Weyant, who placed second in the event.
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Pete D’Abrosca is a reporter at The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected].
