Lia Catherine Thomas (born 1999) became the first transgender woman to win an NCAA swimming title at the Ivy League Penn, and was nominated for the NCAA Woman of the Year Award 2022 as a result.

Addressing the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday, Thomas’ former teammate and NCAA Division I swimmer, Paula Scanlan, told lawmakers that complaints fell on deaf ears.

Scanlan said: “My teammates and I were forced to undress in the presence of Lia, a 6-foot-4 tall, biological male, with fully intact male genitalia, 18 times per week.

“Some girls opted to change in bathroom stalls and others used the family bathroom to avoid this.”

When teammates raised the issue with the university, Scanlan says they were offered counselling to “reeducate” with the intention of making them “comfortable with the idea of undressing in front of a male”.

Addressing the committee meeting, called The Dangers and Due Process Violations of Gender-Affirming Care, Scanlan said: “To sum up the university's response, we, the women, were the problem, not the victims.

“We were expected to conform, to move over and shut up. Our feelings didn't matter. The university was gaslighting and fear-mongering women to validate the feelings and identity of a male.”

She added: “Today, any discussion maintaining the sanctity of women's spaces is labeled transphobic, bigoted and hateful.

Riley Gaines, a 12-time All-American and five-time SEC champion, said: "We were not forewarned beforehand that we would be sharing a locker room with Lia.

“We did not give our consent, they did not ask for our consent, but in that locker room we turned around, and there’s a 6’4" biological man dropping his pants and watching us undress, and we were exposed to male genitalia.”

Gaines added: "Not even probably a year, two years ago, this would have been considered some form of sexual assault, voyeurism.”

https://www.gbnews.com/news/world/trans-swimmer-lia-thomas-usa-university-of-pennsylvania