Look at this absurd coverage of Lia Thomas — the male swimmer dominating the women’s Ivy League swimming championships. From Ellie Rushing’s piece for the Philadelphia Inquirer:
Being a transgender woman is at the core of Thomas’ personal and athletic journey, she has said. It’s the reason people know her name — and why the 22-year-old University of Pennsylvania freestyler is at the center of a culture war on trans athletes’ rights to play sports.
You know what is also “at the core” of Thomas’ personal and athletic journey? Being male. That’s the real reason people know Thomas’s name — and why the athlete is attracting fierce criticism from defenders of women’s sports.
Rushing writes:
Because of this sport she loves — and her commitment to competing as her authentic self — she’s endured public vitriol.
Again, nobody cares about Thomas’s identity or sense of self or how much he loves swimming. What people care about is his sex, which is male and, in a sane world, would disqualify him from competing against females.
Rushing:
Thomas grew up in Austin, Texas, and swam her first laps at 5. She started swimming year-round, and in high school, her competitive edge and love for racing set in.
She was recruited by a few college men’s teams, but her sights were set on Penn, where her brother Wes swam, and a program known for successful long-distance and freestyler swimmers.
So, are we saying Thomas was a girl when he started swimming at five years old? And that Thomas was also a woman when he was “recruited by a few college men’s teams”? How does that work, exactly?