Biological Male Swimmer Lia Thomas Nominated for NCAA Woman of the Year

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A biological male has been nominated for the NCAA Woman of the Year Award.

University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas — a biological male who claims to be female — made headlines after shattering women’s swimming records last year and winning the women’s 500-yard freestyle in NCAA Division I championship in March.

Last week the NCAA listed Thomas among the 577 athletes nominated for NCAA Woman of the Year Award.

The NCAA established the Woman of the Year Award in 1991 to honor female athletes who have “distinguished themselves in their community, in athletics and in academics throughout their college careers.”

NCAA member schools are encouraged to nominate their top graduating female student-athletes for the Woman of the Year Award. The NCAA will recognize the award winner in January of 2023, following a lengthy selection process.

The story underscores once again how ignoring basic biological realities about male athletes and female athletes robs women of opportunities to receive recognition for their achievements.

As John Stonestreet wrote in 2021, “This sort of let’s-all-pretend-we-don’t-know-what’s-happening groupthink isn’t good for college sports or for women’s rights. It’s not good for Lia Thomas, his teammates, or his competitors. No matter how fast he swims, no man really breaks a women’s record.”

That is why the Arkansas Legislature passed Act 461 of 2021, The Fairness in Women’s Sports Act, by Sen. Missy Irvin (R — Mountain View) and Rep. Sonia Barker (R — Smackover). The law prevents male student athletes from competing against girls in women’s athletics.

Letting males compete in girls’ sports reverses 50 years of advances for women. It hampers girls’ abilities to compete for athletic scholarships, and it hurts their professional opportunities as adults.

Act 461 is a good law that protects fairness in women’s sports in Arkansas.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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Male Swimmer Breaks Women’s Records

Transgender,
John Stonestreet, Radio Host and Director of the Colson Center

To hear the NCAA tell the story, an average swimmer from the University of Pennsylvania became a nationally ranked superstar overnight. Check the receipts, and we learn Will Thomas only started breaking records and winning meets by comically huge margins when he began going by “Lia” Thomas this past year.

Similar incidents are increasingly happening in various sports at all levels, but swimming offers an especially clear picture of what it means when we allow men to compete against women. Success in swimming is heavily dependent on physiology. The length of the body, the body’s center of gravity, and even the placement of a person’s belly button can mean the difference between an average swimmer and a major competitor. A man can identify however he wants, and can even take dangerous hormone supplements, but his belly button isn’t going anywhere.

This sort of let’s-all-pretend-we-don’t-know-what’s-happening groupthink isn’t good for college sports or for women’s rights. It’s not good for Lia Thomas, his teammates, or his competitors. No matter how fast he swims, no man really breaks a women’s record.

Copyright 2021 by the Colson Center for Christian Worldview. Reprinted from BreakPoint.org with permission.

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Texas Governor Signs Law Similar to Arkansas’ Protecting Fairness in Women’s Sports

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Rep. Barker presents Act 461 to the Arkansas House of Representatives on March 22, 2021.

On Monday Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed a law requiring students participating in school athletics to compete according to their biological sex.

The law is slated to take effect in Texas in January.

Texas’ new law is very similar to a law that the Arkansas Legislature passed earlier this year: Act 461 of 2021.

Act 461 of 2021 is a good law by Sen. Missy Irvin (R — Mountain View) and Rep. Sonia Barker (R — Smackover). It prevents male student athletes from competing against girls in women’s athletics. This protects fairness in women’s sports at school.

Act 461 passed with strong support from Arkansas’ legislature.

Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson signed it into law last March, and it took full effect last July.

Letting biological males who identify as female compete against girls can rob female student athletes of opportunities for scholarships. In some sports, it can even be dangerous.

It’s good to see states like Texas and Arkansas take a stand to defend fairness in women’s sports.

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