ESPN put out a lengthy video celebrating University of Pennsylvania transgender athlete Lia Thomas at the height of the media’s slobbering over the swimmer, but now that UPenn has vacated Thomas’ dubious records and apologized for for including the swimmer in women’s sports, will ESPN also apologize for promoting a man in women’s sports at the expense of women everywhere?
ESPN touted Thomas in March of 2023 when the cable sports network added the controversial UPenn swimmer to its “Women’s History Month” celebration.
In the video, ESPN features a segment where Thomas says, “People will say, ‘Oh, she just transitioned so she would have an advantage so she could win.’ I transitioned to be happy.”
Thomas, of course, became the focus of high controversy in 2022 after going from a failed and undistinguished male swimmer at the university, to zooming to the forefront as one of the school’s top swimmers after claiming to have transitioned to a female athlete and winning one race after another for the women’s team.
But this week, UPenn officials have agreed to resolve the school’s Title IX violations over its transgender athlete policies that allowed Thomas to compete as a woman and to amass all sorts of records, wins, and titles in the UPenn women’s swimming program. The reversal comes after President Donald Trump changed the Title IX rules to ban transgender athletes from women’s sports.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Education announced that the University of Pennsylvania had entered into a “Resolution Agreement to comply with Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (Title IX).”
The government’s statement added that UPenn would “restore to female athletes all individual UPenn Division I swimming records, titles, or similar recognitions which were misappropriated by male athletes allowed to compete in female categories.”
UPenn will also “send a personalized letter of apology to each impacted female swimmer,” and “issue a public statement” explaining that it will “comply with Title IX” and will no longer allow transgender athletes to compete as women.
So, now that UPenn has disavowed Thomas and dumped its rules allowing transgender athletes in women’s sports, will ESPN apologize for celebrating Thomas and placing him above actual female athletes?
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