by Alexis Spier–Former male swimmer for University of Pennsylvania is now competing on the university’s women’s team. While she was competing for the men’s team, she began transitioning to a woman by taking testosterone blockers and estrogen. During the Ivy League Swimming week, she won the Ohio race. The race against Ohio went viral and raised some concerns.
The organizations that oversee the rules of swimming made it a rule for transitioning men to have completed three years of estrogen and testosterone blockers. This would have excluded Thomas from competing. But the NCAA said it would be unfair to make this rule in the middle of the season, so Thomas is free to compete on the women’s team.
Grace Holzerland, a swimmer on the Morningside Women’s team, shared her thoughts on the topic.
“I think she should not be able to compete with the other females in her league,” Holzerland said. “It’s unfair to other female athletes, because of her biological advantage as a transgender woman.”
Taking into consideration another big question on the topic: Should Thomas go back to swimming on the men’s team, if it is unfair to swim with the women?
“She can take all the hormones she wants, but she should still compete with the men,” Holzerland added.
Morningside swimmer Sydney Lueth had some opinions on the political side of the topic. Instead of deciding if it is unfair for her to swim with women, Lueth thinks it has everything to do with the organization’s appearance.
“I think the NCAA is allowing her to swim to bring publicity to their organization,” Lueth said. “They are trying to be politically correct, and she is bringing so much attention to swimming whether it is good or bad,” Lueth said.
We live in a generation where we try to reach equality for each individual person. We also live in a world where people can identify as whatever they want. If transgender women are beating fellow competitors by a significant amount, could the NCAA create a competition team specifically for transgender women?
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