On March 17, 2022, University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) swimmer Lia Thomas hit the water in one of her last collegiate races, making a splash in 2SLGBTQ+ sporting history. She became the first transgender woman athlete to win a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I championship, in the 500-yard freestyle. Thomas also set UPenn program records in the 100- and 200-yard events. Thomas’ win sparked controversy, with many seeking to undermine her success. For instance, president of the right-wing Evangelical Christian political group Concerned Women for America (CWA), Penny Nance, claimed that Thomas’ participation was harmful to the future of women’s sports. Nance argued that Thomas’ win was a direct violation of Title IX, stating that “the equal rights of female athletes are being infringed [upon].”
Perspectives held by those like Nance are not rare in the women’s sporting world. The Trump administration’s application of Title IX perpetuates anti-trans attitudes, especially against high-achieving athletes like Thomas. These women are continually berated by others in their communities and online, often being told that they have an unfair biological advantage—a claim that current science does not confirm.
Three years later, discriminatory institutions continue to criticize Thomas’ win. In July 2025, UPenn announced it was revoking Lia Thomas’ swimming records, and pledged to ban transgender athletes from competing for and representing UPenn at the collegiate level, in accordance with the demands of the United States Department of Education. The Department had initially launched an investigation into the university for their alleged violation of Title IX: Lia Thomas’ NCAA win.
As a result, UPenn’s administration sent out individual letters to Division I competitors who lost to Thomas from 2021 to 2022; while the university’s athletic department acknowledges that Thomas’ wins were in accordance with eligibility rules during this groundbreaking season, they claim that Thomas’ participation still disadvantaged other women athletes. UPenn’s agreement with the Trump administration’s application of Title IX not only invalidates wins by athletes like Thomas, but also reinforces wider bigotry against the trans community. The Trump administration has turned Title IX into a vehicle for enforcing its selective vision of what they believe gender should look like. Inclusive participation in sports has become a convenient target for transphobes, allowing them to marginalize a small community within one of society’s most visible and gendered spaces.
“Trans people don’t transition for athletics,” Thomas shared after winning her NCAA championship. “We transition to be happy and authentic and our true selves. Transitioning to get an advantage is not something that ever factors into our decisions.”
The Trump administration and its right-wing allies have worked hard to undermine the success of trans athletes, not only through rhetoric but also through concrete measures like reducing funding for university sports that include trans players. At UPenn, this meant a $175 million cut in federal support: A direct result of Thomas’s past participation on the women’s swim team. These funding losses serve to limit all athletes, particularly women athletes—whose programs are historically underfunded and most vulnerable—to further shrink opportunities for women in sports.
Trans athletes make up less than 10 out of 510,000 NCAA athletes, yet through Title IX’s manipulation, they attract outsized negative attention that bears little relation to their actual presence in sports. This disproportionate scrutiny not only stigmatizes trans athletes, but also prevents the real inequities that continue to hold women’s sports back from being addressed, such as a lack of resources and institutional support.
Banning trans athletes from collegiate sports reinforces discriminatory policies that police who are considered to be women and confine participation to rigid gender binaries. Lia Thomas’s case is not an isolated controversy; it reveals systemic trans exclusion within university athletics, which extends to broader societal institutions. Collegiate sports are meant to be spaces for students to showcase their talent, build community, and find joy in competition. Limiting who can participate undermines those very principles, suggesting that community is conditional rather than guaranteed.
