ABOVE: Lia Thomas. Photo via University of Pennsylvania Athletics.
After months of nasty headlines and boos hurled her way at the mere mention of her name, Lia Thomas can finally live her life away from the spotlight, and enjoy her first summer as just another college graduate.
So, what does the out transgender champion do? She’s granted her first media interviews since her historic NCAA victory, telling reporters she’s headed to law school and she also plans to take the laps necessary to win Olympic gold.
“I intend to keep swimming,” Thomas told ABC News correspondent Juju Chang Tuesday on “Good Morning America.” “It’s been a goal of mine to swim at Olympic trials for a very long time, and I would love to see that through.”
In addition to Chang, the native of Austin, Texas, also agreed to answer questions from ESPN sportswriter Katie Barnes, who is the first out LGBTQ journalist to be granted this opportunity.
The Los Angeles Blade repeatedly requested an interview with Thomas, before, during and after she competed at the National Championships in Atlanta. Barnes was there, too, and as they reported, Thomas flat-out refused to appear at the traditional winner’s news conference. She gave only two interviews during her historic run: The first went to a SwimSwam podcaster in December, and the only other one was live on the pool deck with ESPN, immediately after Thomas won the 500-freestyle in March.
Barnes, who is non-binary, asked the UPenn grad for her perspective on the ongoing national debate over trans girls and women competing with cisgender girls and women in school sports.
“The biggest misconception, I think, is the reason I transitioned,” Thomas said. “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, who swam on the Penn men’s swimming team for three seasons, then took a gap year during the COVID-19 pandemic, which canceled college swimming, said she began her medical transition in May 2019 following her sophomore year. By the time she joined the women’s swim team as a fifth year senior in 2021, she had undergone 30months of hormone replacement therapy.
Republican legislators who have copy-pasted bills banning trans student athletes across the country have invoked Thomas’ name, claiming laws were needed to protect the sanctity of women’s sports, even in states where no out trans students competed.
Thomas told ESPN the threat is entirely imaginary.
“Trans women competing in women’s sports does not threaten women’s sports as a whole,” Thomas told Barnes. “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.”
The rules are changing, however. USA Swimming updated its trans participation policy in February to require evaluation of eligibility for trans women by a three-person panel, and 36 months of testosterone suppression; More months than Thomas had undergone. However, the NCAA opted to not impose that policy for its 2022 swimming and diving championships, and Thomas merely had to comply with the previous policy: A demonstrated testosterone level below 10 nanomoles per liter.
Critics of the NCAA have proposed trans women should compete separately from cis women. Thomas told Barnes she objects to that so-called solution.
“If you say, like, you can compete, but you can’t score or you’re in an extra lane nine, that’s very othering towards trans people,” said Thomas. “And it is not offering them the same level of respect and opportunity to play and to compete.”
She told them it comes down to this: Trans women are women.
“It’s no different than a cis woman taking a spot on a travel team or a scholarship. It’s a part of athletics, where people are competing against each other. It’s not taking away opportunities from cis women, really. Trans women are women, so it’s still a woman who is getting that scholarship or that opportunity,” she said.
Besides looking to the Olympic trials, Thomas said she will attend grad school in the fall and plans to focus on civil rights and public interest law.
“Having seen such hateful attacks on trans rights through legislation, fighting for trans rights and trans equality is something that I’ve become much more passionate about and want to pursue,” said Thomas.
