The University of Pennsylvania has nominated Lia Thomas for the 2022 NCAA Woman of the Year award. Thomas is a “transgender woman.” And the issue with having “transgender women” in women’s sporting competitions is that they are men, and men — no matter what else we may call them — aren’t women.
Of course, it’s quite possible that UPenn, which has had enough bad publicity because of Thomas, wasn’t intending to make a statement, but was caught between a rock and a hard place. As Sports Illustrated explains, “each NCAA school can nominate one graduating woman athlete for the award (or two, if one is an international student or a person of color).” Not picking Thomas, after they’d backed his farcical victory, was hardly an option, was it?
Still, this is getting silly.