2022 College graduate Lia Thomas served as a keynote speaker at HiTOPS’ annual Trans Youth Forum over the weekend and publicly spoke about transgender inclusion in sports for the first time this year.
HiTOPS, a nonprofit organization aiming to provide an inclusive space for LGBTQ+ youth in New Jersey, hosted Thomas as part of a moderated discussion on March 29 that focused on her identity and experience as a transgender woman.
During the hourlong session, Thomas discussed her journey as a swimmer, the fulfillment of competing after transitioning, and a lack of education and knowledge of “what being trans was” when she was growing up in her hometown in Texas.
She also focused on the importance of transgender representation, asserting that competition categories in sports should be “athlete driven.”
“It has to be the athletes deciding for themselves where they feel most affirmed and most comfortable,” she said. ”Having routes that are safe and nondiscriminatory that allow them access to that [is important].”
World Aquatics planned to introduce an “open” category that would allow transgender swimmers to be eligible to compete. However, plans to debut the new category at the 2023 World Aquatics Swimming World Cup in Berlin were canceled after no entries were received.
Thomas also responded to World Aquatics’ 2022 decision to prohibit transgender women who have gone through any part of male puberty from competing in women’s aquatics.
“I felt so devastated and [felt] grief over losing this access to my sport,” Thomas said of the ban, which she lost a legal challenge against in 2024. “There was no doubt in my mind that I was going to fight this, that this is my sport too, and I’m not just gonna give it up to trans folks.”
Thomas noted that after her time at Penn, she feels some amount of responsibility fighting for transgender inclusion in sports.
“I’m so happy to have opportunities like this where I can share my story and hopefully be that inspiration for other people,” she said.
Thomas said that she initially felt that competing as a college swimmer after coming out as transgender “seemed an … impossible step.”
“I looked up … the NCAA transgender policy [during freshman fall] and knew it might be technically possible. … I didn’t think that I could do it,” Thomas said, adding that the thought of “having to pick one” contributed to her feelings of dysphoria.
“I didn’t want to swim. I just wanted to step away and be able to transition and be myself,” she said. “But my love of swimming kept me going. … When I had transitioned, I felt more comfortable, and I said, ‘I can do this. I could do both.’”
Thomas competed for the Penn women’s swimming and diving team during the 2021-22 season after her transition. During this time, she received consistent national media attention, especially after garnering success on the conference and national levels.
“I still remember my first time scrolling through social media and seeing my face on someone else’s feed or on someone else’s post, just talking about me and just feeling confused,” Thomas said. “Because, on a conceptual level, I knew what was happening, but on a personal level, I feel like I was just another college woman competing.”
Despite the backlash, Thomas said that she kept swimming because of her love for the sport. While she does not swim competitively anymore, she still returns to the pool as a safe haven, as it was before she transitioned.
“It’s a reclamation of my body in a way where I’ve gone through such a wide emotional arc of how I feel about my body and how I feel in it. … It’s now a celebration of how far I’ve come and how much more comfortable I feel now,” she said.
Thomas’ time in the pool remains part of the national conversation, even three years after her graduation from Penn.
On Feb. 4, 1968 Wharton graduate and President Donald Trump signed an executive order banning transgender athletes from women’s sports. The NCAA subsequently updated its policies to align with the order.
On Feb. 11, the Department of Education sent a letter to NCAA President Charlie Baker urging the reallocation of titles and awards earned by transgender athletes, including Thomas.
On March 19, the Trump administration announced that it would be following through on the promise made in the aforementioned executive order by freezing over $175 million of Penn’s federal funding, attributing the decision to the University allowing Thomas to compete on the women’s swimming and diving team.
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