WATCH: Lia Thomas Says Trans Athletes ‘Not a Threat’ to Women’s Sports

Lia Thomas
Kathryn Riley/Getty Images
Warner Todd Huston

Striking back at critics who say transgender women athletes enjoy an unfair advantage in sports, controversial transgender UPenn swimmer Lia Thomas said that trans women transition for happiness, not sports.

Thomas, a man, joined the University of Pennsylvania’s women’s swim team last year after a mediocre three years as a member of the men’s swim team and immediately caused outrage for blasting nearly every natural-born female competitor out of the water. By the end of the swimming season, Thomas had obliterated a series of long-standing women’s swimming records and effortlessly clinched the 2021-22 NCAA national championship in the women’s 500-yard freestyle.

In an interview with Good Morning America on Tuesday, Thomas waived off the advantages a male body has over a female’s in sports.

“I’m not a medical expert, but there’s a lot of variation among [cisgender] female athletes,” Thomas said. “There’s just women who are very tall and very muscular and have more testosterone than another [cisgender] woman. And should that then also disqualify them?”

But Thomas also claimed that people have the wrong idea about transitioning.

“The biggest misconception, I think, is the reason I transitioned,” Thomas told GMA. “People will say, ‘Oh, she just transitioned so she would have an advantage, so she could win.’ I transitioned to be happy, to be true to myself.”

Thomas also claimed that transgender women competing against natural-born women is no threat to women’s sports.

Lia Thomas holds a trophy next to another swimmer

Riley Gaines stands next to Lia Thomas at the NCAA Championships (Brett Davis/USA Today Sports)

“Trans women competing in women’s sports does not threaten women’s sports as a whole,” Thomas insisted. “Trans women are a very small minority of all athletes. The NCAA rules regarding trans women competing in women’s sports have been around for 10- plus years. And we haven’t seen any massive wave of trans women dominating.

“Trans people don’t transition for athletics. We transition to be happy and authentic and our true selves. Transitioning to get an advantage is not something that ever factors into our decision,” Thomas exclaimed.

“It’s no different than a cis (cisgender) woman taking a spot on a travel team or a scholarship. It’s a part of athletics, where people are competing against one each other. It’s not taking away opportunities from cis women really,” Thomas added. “Trans women are women, so it’s still a woman who is getting that scholarship or that opportunity.”

Thomas was defiant in the face of critics. Though he has graduated from UPenn, Thomas insisted that the whole experience was worth it.

“I’ve been able to do the sport that I love as my authentic self,” Thomas concluded.

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