Lia Thomas is a transgender NCAA swimmer who has generated a lot of controversy. Prior to identifying as a woman, Thomas competed in the men’s NCAA swimming competitions but did not have much success.
But once she started competing in the women’s division, Lia became an NCAA gold medalist. However, she has received a lot of pushback and especially from Riley Gaines, who is a biological woman and an elite swimmer.
Gaines, who claimed to be assaulted for her stance on the issue recently, argued that letting Lia compete against biological women was unfair.
According to Riley, Lia’s physical advantages over biological women were apparent when her stats are compared to Thomas’ tenure in the men’s division. On top of that, Riley also alleged that she and other women were forced to share the dressing room with Thomas as well.
It sparked a strong debate among netizens about whether Lia should be allowed in women’s competitions or not. It has resulted in frustration from Thomas, who seems to have had enough of that conversation. Fans did not hear from Lia Thomas amid all the chatter about her. However, that changed recently as she came out with some controversial statements of her own.
View this post on Instagram
During a recent appearance on “Dear Schuyler,” Thomas said, “Oh, we respect Lia as a woman, as a trans woman, whatever, we respect her identity, we just don’t think it’s fair. You can’t really have that half support. Like I respect you as a woman here, but not here…”
She continued, “They’re using the guise of feminism to sort of push transphobic beliefs. I think a lot of people in that camp sort of carry an implicit bias against trans people, but don’t want to, I guess, fully manifest or speak that out. And so they try to just play it off as this sort of half-support. You can’t do that you can’t sort of break down me as a person into little pieces.” (h/t via Daily Mail)
From her comments, it seems like Lia is calling out the seemingly hypocritic comments from her distractors such as Riley Gaines. While she did not name Riley or anybody else, Lia is definitely bothered by the lack of support from her teammates on the topic of her competing in women’s sports.
Is Lia Thomas going through HRT treatment?
HRT or Hormone Replacement Therapy has been a hotly debated topic recently. For those who are unaware, a member of famous YouTuber MrBeast’s crew, Chris Tyson, recently announced that he was undergoing HRT treatment. HRT is a gender-affirming procedure that increases the amount of a certain sex hormone such as testosterone and estrogen.
Following the HRT treatment, there have been some stark differences between his current and former self. Tyson, who came out as bisexual and identified as gender-nonconforming in 2020, has developed a more feminine look as a result of her HRT treatment. Since Lia identifies herself as a woman, fans have wondered whether Lia has also gone through the same procedure or not.
Lia Thomas is indeed going through HRT treatment. In an interview with Sports Illustrated, Lia explained her decision to undergo HRT treatment for the first time in 2019. However, it was not an easy decision to take from Thomas, who was worried about her swimming career. Going through HRT treatment could have ended her swimming career as it would have weakened her physically.
But she ultimately decided to go through with the therapy. Talking about the experience, she added, “I did HRT knowing and accepting I might not swim again… I was just trying to live my life. It surprised me, I felt, mentally, a lot better and healthier pretty quickly. The relief it gave me was quite substantial.”
Although she came out as transgender, Lia could not let go of her dreams of being a swimmer. While competitors can change their gender categories under NCAA regulations, they are required to be under HRT treatment for at least 1 year. But in 2019, despite undergoing HRT treatment, she competed against men during the Ivy League meet.
Upon using HRT, Lia detailed the changes she experienced in her body. From the redistribution of her body fat to losing an inch of height, Lia was not the same person that she was previously. She added, “I feel disconnected from them… It was a different moment in my life.”
In 2021, Lia started competing in women’s divisions and started setting records. In both 200-year freestyle and 500-yard freestyle races in 2021, Thomas obliterated her competitors. In the 500-yard freestyle race, Lia apparently had a 13-second lead on the person who finished in the second position. Although it led to some complaints being raised, Thomas is not indulging in the negativity.
She described the feeling after becoming transgender as, “An amazing and beautiful experience… I’ve been reinvigorated. I’ve been swimming for 17 years, but for [only] a short part of that time have I felt fully engaged… After coming out and being my authentic self, I could really start to see a future… Before I came out, I couldn’t visualize a future.
During the 2022 NCAA competitions, which sparked the whole controversy, Lia was on HRT treatment for 34 months by then. Despite the protest from Riley Gaines and other personalities online, NCAA has stood by the transgender athlete. Will her participation in women’s competitions ever be accepted unanimously? Only time will tell.