A former teammate of Lia Thomas is demanding an apology for being repeatedly forced to undress in front of the controversial transgender swimmer.
Paula Scanlan tore into sports officials while noting Wednesday’s decision to refuse permission for Thomas, 25, to compete in women’s events at the Olympic Games.
“Okay, but is anyone going to apologize for forcing us to undress with him 18 times a week?” Scanlan wrote on X.
Thomas had previously competed on the men’s swimming team before switching to the women’s team in the fall of 2021. The swimmer then began changing in the women’s locker room, which Scanlan previously said was traumatic for her as a sexual-assault survivor.
“In general, bathrooms were a place I felt really uncomfortable,” she said in 2023.
“I would just kind of relive the situation that I went through when I was 16.”
Scanlan described Thomas’s presence as “so incredibly uncomfortable” — and not just for her. Her fellow biologically female swimmers resorted to changing in bathroom stalls and family bathrooms for the sake of their privacy, she said.
“I would be at my locker and then all of a sudden hear a masculine voice, and I would just jump,” Scanlan recalled. “I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, somebody got in here.’”
“It’s incredibly vulnerable,” she added. “I had nightmares for weeks about men being there while we were dressing.”
Thomas, who transitioned to female via hormone therapy after competing for three years as a male on the University of Pennsylvania swim team, dominated the field of biological women to become the first openly trans person to win an NCAA Division I title in 2022.
Thomas’ ascent sparked an impassioned national debate about whether it was fair for biologically male athletes who change their gender to compete in female sports leagues.
Thomas filed a suit against World Aquatics (WA), the world governing body for water sports including swimming, seeking to overturn their 2022 policy prohibiting athletes who have been through “any part of male puberty” from competing in the female category, according to The Guardian.
The matter was adjudicated by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), a Swiss-based international body for settling disputes that arise within the world of high-level athletics, which wrote in its 24-page decision that Thomas was “simply not entitled to engage with eligibility to compete in WA competitions.”
In a statement, World Aquatics touted the ruling as “a major step forward in our efforts to protect women’s sport.”
The governing body added that it is “dedicated to fostering an environment that promotes fairness, respect, and equal opportunities for athletes of all genders and we reaffirm this pledge.”
Thomas said that the decision made by the Court of Arbitration for Sport should be viewed as a call to action for trans-women to “fight for our dignity and human rights”.