Former Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines was among more than a dozen college athletes who filed a lawsuit against the NCAA on Thursday, accusing it of violating their Title IX rights by allowing transgender woman Lia Thomas to compete at the national championships in 2022.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Atlanta, details the shock Gaines and other swimmers felt when they learned they would have to share a locker room with Thomas at the championships in Atlanta. It documents a number of races they swam in with Thomas, including the 200-yard final in which Thomas and Gaines tied for fifth but Thomas, not Gaines, was handed the fifth-place trophy.

Thomas swam for Pennsylvania. She competed for the men’s team at Penn before her gender transition.

Thomas was the first openly transgender athlete to win a Division I title in any sport, finishing in front of three Olympic medalists for the championship. By not making the final, the lawsuit mentions that Florida swimmer Tylor Mathieu, who was not a plaintiff, was denied first-team All-American honors in that event.

Other plaintiffs included athletes from volleyball and track.

  • @Shiggles
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    253 months ago

    Gendered sports dying means sports for biological women dying and sports for biological men being basically unaffected.

    Something tells me competitive sports aren’t just going to die out because some of us struggle to accept testosterone is a steroid and gives an unfair advantage versus women.

    • @[email protected]
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      fedilink
      33 months ago

      Or they could seperate based on something other than gender?

      Like in basketball a 6ft5 woman is probably going to out perform a 5ft5 man even though the man has the testosterone advantage.

    • Certified Asshole
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      -43 months ago

      Yep, I know. It can be countered by encouragement of girla\women, but IIRC they want their own league in many sports due to difference in physique and toxic male challengers. Thus I think it’s not mostly about division but maybe the competitive factor?

      • @Shiggles
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        103 months ago

        …right, it’s totally because only men are toxic, no man has ever been mocked for “losing to a girl” due to that same societal toxicity before nor are women’s sports surprisingly rife with hair pulling/scratching/etc

        Pretty sure it’s almost entirely the difference in physique that otherwise trivializes women as competitors on any serious level?

        • Certified Asshole
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          03 months ago

          I can only talk about toxicity in men, aince I’m one and was in their changing rooms. That’s a pleasure of a public forum we can discuss that for we can see other perspectives.