Transgender swimmer Lia Thomas is speaking out about her participation in women’s swimming.
The former Penn swimmer sat down with ABC News and ESPN in her first major interview since the NCAA swim season ended back in early March. During the NCAA swimming and diving championships in Atlanta, Thomas declined all interview requests, but she made waves in and out of the pool as the first known transgender athlete to win an NCAA Division I title.
Since then, transgender participation in sport has remained a hotly contested issue across the country.
In March, Idaho became the first state to pass a law that restricts transgender students’ access to sports. While governor Spencer Cox attempted to veto the bill, the veto was overridden by the state’s lawmakers. As of May 24, 18 U.S. states have either laws or an executive order that limits the participation of transgender athletes in sport, according to the New York Times.
The legislators often have cited the need to protect women’s sports as a reason for the bans.
“Trans women competing in women’s sports does not threaten women’s sports as a whole,” Thomas told ESPN, adding that she doesn’t buy legislators’ reasoning. “Trans women are a very small minority of all…
