4 months ago
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(NewsNation) — Three swimmers and erstwhile teammates of transgender rival Lia Thomas person sued the University of Pennsylvania and others, alleging that the schoolhouse violated their rights.
Former UPenn swimmers Grace Eastabrook, Ellen Homquist and Margot Kaczorowrski filed the suit successful the U.S. District Court successful Massachusetts this week. The Ivy League Council of Presidents, the NCAA and others are listed arsenic defendants.
Thomas was banned from competing successful elite swimming competitions, including the Olympics. Thomas swam for the University of Pennsylvania and won an NCAA rubric successful meets that are extracurricular the World Aquatics competitory system, successful which she was not registered.
The World Aquatics governing assemblage added a caller sex inclusion argumentation successful 2022, banning biologic antheral athletes from competing successful women’s elite races unless they transitioned by the property of 12 oregon earlier experiencing antheral puberty. It besides created an “open” class for transgender athletes.
Thomas gained nationalist designation aft she won the 2022 NCAA title successful the 500 freestyle and was named an All-American successful 3 of the women’s swimming and diving championships.
In the lawsuit, the 3 erstwhile UPenn swimmers who each competed astatine the 2022 Ivy League Women's Swimming and Diving championships, said that earlier the play began, the school's swimming coach, Mike Schnur bragged that helium had a "secret weapon."
They said earlier the Ivy League championships, Thomas' dominance implicit women's swimmers "meet aft meet" had go planetary news. They assertion that the Ivy League Council of Presidents, which is besides named arsenic a suspect successful the lawsuit, met down closed doors to "strike a nationalist stroke for trans-identifying men competing successful women's sports."
The suit said that the 2022 Ivy League conscionable was to beryllium the culmination of the league's nationalist run to "manipulate nationalist sentiment and alteration the NCAA Division I collegiate sports landscape" for trans-identifying men who wanted to vie successful women's competitions.
Thomas is the archetypal known male-born jock to triumph an NCAA Division I women’s title. Thomas antecedently competed for the university’s men’s squad earlier transitioning to a woman.
One of Thomas’ teammates spoke to NewsNation, which agreed to let the teammate to stay anonymous.
“This is simply a occupation that needs to beryllium fixed,” she told NewsNation.
The suit filed by the swimmers comes connected the heels of President Donald Trump signing an enforcement order stopping men from competing successful women's sports.
But Thomas's erstwhile teammate told NewsNation that she feels a batch of her teammates are “really scared” to talk out. She said that the archetypal clip she saw Thomas vie with UPenn’s women’s team, she felt shocked and said the squad was conscionable forced to judge it due to the fact that nary 1 was successful spot to bash thing astir it.
This is simply a processing story. NewsNation volition update it arsenic much accusation becomes available.
