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.

  • BellyPurpledGerbil
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    8 months ago

    Regardless of where anyone sits on this topic, I need you to realize something that none of you are even aware of. By accepting the premise of the argument as “men are generally stronger than women,” you are immediately accepting that trans women are men. It doesn’t matter how you land the rest of your opinion. The fascists got you to accept their presupposition that trans women are just men.

    • brlemworld@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      I think we should defund all sports because it’s just bullshit and we should fund education and have that be competitive.

      • UrPartnerInCrime
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        8 months ago

        I mean, I agree with not spending as much on athletes cause they’re grossly overpaid. But to completely take away people’s way of lives if a bit too much. Let’s maybe try to make everyone happy

    • Fushuan [he/him]@lemm.ee
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      8 months ago

      I guess that the premise that people approach this with is actually “women that went through puberty pre-transition are generally stronger than those who didn’t because of how their bodies developed through it”, but people are generally lazy and will say the sentence you typed, implying the one I did.

      Their point is still valid, though badly executed throughout faulty wording.

    • funkless_eck
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      8 months ago

      sports are only gender segregated because men can’t handle losing to women.