Lia Thomas — the biological male who stole a national swimming title from a deserving female athlete in 2022 — is now taking his quest to be recognized as a female swimmer international. The 25-year-old Thomas, formerly known as Will, is asking a Swiss sports court to overturn rules imposed by World Aquatics that keep Thomas from competing at the Olympic level.
Thomas has engaged Canadian law firm Tyr and attorney Carlos Sayao, a former competitive swimmer and LGBT activist, to plead his case in front of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), an international body based in Lausanne, Switzerland.
“Trans women are particularly vulnerable in society and they suffer from higher rates of violence, abuse and harassment than cis women,” Sayao said. “Lia has now had the door closed to her in terms of her future ability to practice her sport and compete at the highest level.”
It’s supposedly all about civil rights and, allegedly, science.
“She’s bringing the case for herself and other trans women to ensure that any rules for trans women’s participation in sport are fair, proportionate and grounded in human rights and in science,” Sayao added.
After stealing the NCAA women’s 500-yard freestyle in 2022, Thomas expressed his desire to compete in the Olympics as a woman.
“It’s been a goal of mine to swim at Olympic trials for a very long time, and I would love to see that through,” Thomas said in 2022.
But in June 2022, shortly after Thomas’ tainted victory at the NCAA meet, World Aquatics created rules that would prohibit Thomas and other transgender cheaters from competing as females. As a way of softening the blow, the governing body created a new “open” category in which athletes like Thomas could compete.
“Ms Thomas accepts that fair competition is a legitimate sporting objective and that some regulation of transgender women in swimming is appropriate,” the court said in a media release. “However, Ms Thomas submits that the Challenged Provisions are invalid and unlawful as they discriminate against her contrary to the Olympic Charter, the World Aquatics Constitution, and Swiss law including the European Convention on Human Rights and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women; and that such discrimination cannot be justified as necessary, reasonable, or proportionate to achieve a legitimate sporting objective.”
Thomas hopes that the court will find that the commonsense restriction against males competing with females is unlawful.
“Ms Thomas seeks an order from the CAS declaring that the Challenged Provisions are unlawful, invalid, and of no force and effect,” CAS said.
To their credit, World Aquatics doesn’t appear to be backing down in the face of woke outrage.
“The World Aquatics policy on gender inclusion, adopted by World Aquatics in June of 2022, was rigorously developed on the basis of advice from leading medical and legal experts, and in careful consultation with athletes,” said Brent Nowicki, the organization’s director. “World Aquatics remains confident that its gender inclusion policy represents a fair approach and remains absolutely determined to protect women’s sport.”
Thomas himself has been rather quiet on the current court challenge, although he’s had plenty to say on the subject in the past. According to him, his quest to compete as a female is no different from any other woman’s.
“It’s no different than a cis woman taking a spot on a travel team or a scholarship,” Thomas declared in 2022. “It’s a part of athletics, where people are competing against each other. It’s not taking away opportunities from cis women, really. Trans women are women, so it’s still a woman who is getting that scholarship or that opportunity.”
Another part of athletics is cheating. Sometimes, nefarious athletes get away with it, tainting the sports in which they’re involved. As a male, Thomas was a mid-level competitive swimmer at best. But, as a female, he competes at an elite level, taking opportunities from deserving athletes who play by the rules.
Hopefully, the CAS tribunal will see past Thomas’ charade and uphold World Aquatics’ policy. Reportedly, the case is not likely to be decided prior to this year’s Olympic games.
As NCAA swimmer and onetime Thomas rival Riley Gaines has said, “Lia Thomas is not a brave, courageous woman who EARNED a national title. He is an arrogant, cheat who STOLE a national title from a hardworking, deserving woman.”
