{"id":31242,"date":"2022-05-31T23:25:24","date_gmt":"2022-05-31T23:25:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/trans-swimmer-leah-thomas-teammate-slams-university-of-pennsylvania\/"},"modified":"2022-05-31T23:25:24","modified_gmt":"2022-05-31T23:25:24","slug":"trans-swimmer-leah-thomas-teammate-slams-university-of-pennsylvania","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/trans-swimmer-leah-thomas-teammate-slams-university-of-pennsylvania\/","title":{"rendered":"Trans swimmer Leah Thomas&#8217; teammate slams University of Pennsylvania"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignleft\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>A fed-up teammate of transgender swimmer Lia Thomas has alleged that the University of Pennsylvania silenced the star athlete&#8217;s critics and brushed aside their concerns &#8211; as she admitted that winning now &#8220;feels tainted.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere&#8217;s a lot of things you couldn&#8217;t talk about that were very concerning, like a locker room situation,\u201d the teammate claims in a clip of a new documentary set to be aired this week.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you even brought up concerns about it, you were [deemed] transphobic, \u201dthe athlete, who spoke on condition of anonymity, continues.<\/p>\n<p>Conservative podcaster and author Matt Walsh previewed<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MattWalshBlog\/status\/1531649621298118662\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> the snippet Tuesday from an interview<\/a> that is featured in his new documentary about gender politics, \u201cWhat Is a Woman,\u201d which premieres Wednesday night on The Daily Wire website.<\/p>\n<p>In the minute-long clip shared on Twitter, Thomas&#8217; teammate, whose face and voice have been obscured to make her unrecognizable, suggests that UPenn officials have staunchly supported Thomas because &#8220;Lia&#8217;s performance helps the University of Pennsylvania swim team.&#8221;<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"embed-wrapper twitter\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">GMA interviewed Lia Thomas today.  Great timing.  Our film features one of Thomas&#8217;s teammates.  She told me that women on her team were silenced and referred to psychological counseling if they objected to having Thomas on the team.  More in the full film: https:\/\/t.co\/xibkNa4oHW <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/YRRf2S712a\" target=\"_blank\">pic.twitter.com\/YRRf2S712a<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MattWalshBlog\/status\/1531649621298118662?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">May 31, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>\u201cLia obviously helps us do better [but] the feeling of winning doesn&#8217;t feel as good anymore because it feels tainted, \u201dthe anonymous student admits in the clip. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;If you even bring up the fact that Lia&#8217;s swimming might not be fair, you are immediately shut down as being called a hateful person, or transphobic.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>Walsh tweeted the teaser shortly after Thomas, 22, appeared on \u201cGood Morning America\u201d and argued that trans athletes are \u201cnot a threat to women&#8217;s sports\u201d &#8211; while revealing that she aspires to compete in the Olympics.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><figcaption>Matt Walsh released the documentary clip after Lia Thomas&#8217; appearance on &#8220;Good Morning America.&#8221;<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">GMA<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In her first TV interview about the controversy surrounding her record-breaking performance, the college senior struck a defiant tone, saying: &#8220;I don&#8217;t need anybody&#8217;s permission to be myself and to do the sport that I love.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, when asked by Walsh if UPenn coaches ever had a frank discussion about Thomas&#8217; place on the team, the unnamed student recounted how on one occasion, team members met with high-ranking officials from the athletic department, a representative from the LGBTQ center and someone from psychological services.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey said, &#8216;Look, we understand there&#8217;s an array of emotions, but Lia&#8217;s swimming is a non-negotiable.  However we can help you make that OK, that&#8217;s what we&#8217;re here for, &#8216;\u201dthe teammate recalled. <\/p>\n<p>The Post attempted to reach out to UPenn by phone and email for a comment on these claims, but there was no immediate response. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/05\/lia-thomas-2.jpg?resize=1024%2C682&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Leah Thomas\" class=\"wp-image-22477535\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/05\/lia-thomas-2.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/05\/lia-thomas-2.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/05\/lia-thomas-2.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\"\/><figcaption>Lia Thomas is the first trans woman to win an NCAA swimming title.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Paul Rutherford \/ USA TODAY<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In her interview with \u201cGood Morning America&#8217;s\u201d Juju Chang, Thomas insisted that she did not transition to place higher in competitions by racing against cisgender women.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTrans people don&#8217;t transition for athletics,\u201d she said.  &#8220;We transition to be happy and authentic and to be ourselves.  Transition to get an advantage is not something that factors into our decisions. &#8220;<\/p>\n<p>In March, Thomas made history when she became the first trans woman to win an NCAA swimming championship with a season-best time.<\/p>\n<p>Even though Thomas has followed NCAA and Ivy League rules since she began her transition in 2019 by starting hormone replacement therapy, she has become a lightening rod to conservatives claiming that she has an unfair advantage in the water, having gone through puberty as a male.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>    .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A fed-up teammate of transgender swimmer Lia Thomas has alleged that the University of Pennsylvania silenced the star athlete&#8217;s critics and brushed aside their concerns &#8211; as she admitted that winning now &#8220;feels tainted.&#8221; \u201cThere&#8217;s a lot of things you couldn&#8217;t talk about that were very concerning, like a locker room situation,\u201d the teammate claims &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/trans-swimmer-leah-thomas-teammate-slams-university-of-pennsylvania\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Trans swimmer Leah Thomas&#8217; teammate slams University of Pennsylvania<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31243,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[11],"tags":[15411,15412,146,15103,3728,13983,15413],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/05\/lia-thomas-1.jpg?ssl=1","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/05\/lia-thomas-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1024","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31242"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31242"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31242\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}