Who is Lia Thomas? Transgender -swimmer prohibited by the University of Penn and the controversy surrounding her | Today news

The University of Pennsylvania has agreed to stop transgender athletes from participating in his women’s sports teams, the US government said on Tuesday, July 1. The announcement came when the parties set off a federal civil rights case arising from the controversy around the swimmer Lia Thomas. In a statement Tuesday, the US Department of Education said Upenn entered into a resolution agreement that promised to comply with title IX, the federal law that prohibited sex-based discrimination in any educational program. The decision follows an investigation by the Department’s Office for Civil Rights that found that the University of the title IX was violated by allowing transgender swimmer Thomas to compete in women’s competitions in 2021-2022. Who is Lia Thomas? Lia Thomas became the first openly transgender swimmer a Division I title (women’s 500-year freestyle) and has been criticized by President Donald Trump and Republicans for the past few years. Thomas, a native of Austin, Texas, graduated in 2017 High School. She was initially part of the Penn Men’s Swimming and Diving team, where she reached up to three finals of 2018 Ivy League Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships. This includes the 500-yard, 1000 and 1650 freestyle meetings. The swimmer started with hormone replacement therapy in 2019 and eventually came out as a transgender for her coaches and team members of men’s and women’s teams. In 2021, Thomas returned to the sport, and this time joined the Penn Women’s Swimming and Diving team where she was in the spotlight after her performance at the Zippy Invitational event. While she continued to participate on behalf of the women’s team, the NCAA Council of Governors agreed to implement a ‘sports-for-sports approach’ in January 2022 in the participation of transgender athletes from the academic year of 2022-23. While Thomas said her team supported her participation, 16 Penn swimmers complained anonymously that she was taking away ‘competitive opportunities’ in the opportunities in the Ivy League Championship. However, Thomas won three Ivy League Championship titles that enabled her to qualify for the 2022 NCAA section I swim and diving championships, where she won one title. Penn also nominated her for the NCAA Woman of the Year. After her graduation, Thomas prevented themselves from participating in swimming meetings and focusing on her law degree. During this time, in March 2023, the World Athletics Council announced that it was forbidden to swim. What is the controversy? Lia Thomas became a lightning stick around the debate of transgender athletes in women’s sports after she participated in female collegial competitions in 2022. Her participation in women’s meetings caused widespread outrage, with critics and some fellow swimmers saying she should not be allowed to compete because of an unfair physiological advantage. Her supporters argued that she should compete as a wife. Trump issued an executive order in February with the aim of prohibiting transgender athletes, which enabled federal agencies to stop financing at any institution that does not consider the birth-timed generations in determining sex. Under the settlement, Upenn will restore all individual swim records and titles to female athletes affected by Thomas’ participation.