UPenn strips Lia Thomas’ sports titles in Trump deal

The University of Pennsylvania has erased trans swimmer Lia Thomas’ records, and promised to ban trans athletes in female sports, after reaching a ‘deal’ with the Trump administration.

Transgender college swimming champion Lia Thomas has had some of her records erased after the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) reached a ‘deal’ with President Donald Trump.

In a statement 1 July, Trump’s Department of Education announced that “the University of Pennsylvania Has Entered into a Resolution Agreement to Resolve its Title IX Violations.”

This means that UPenn will now ban trans women from competing in women’s sports, and “restore” any titles won by trans athletes to their cisgender competitors, under the Trump administration’s interpretation of Title IX; a landmark piece of civil rights legislation which protects people from discrimination based on sex.

During his presidency, Biden extended Title IX’s protection to trans people.

The directive comes under one of Trump’s many LGBTQ+-focused executive orders, titled ‘Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism“, which enforces that birth sex alone defines what sports, changing rooms and toilets athletes can use.

The titles won by Thomas, which the statement claims she “misappropriated” from cisgender athletes, have already been removed from UPenn’s website listing “All-Time School Records by Event”.

It now adds at the bottom of the list: “Competing under eligibility rules in effect at the time, Lia Thomas set program records in the 100, 200 and 500 freestyle during the 2021-22 season.” Thomas’ name still stands in the 4x100m relay record.

The Trump administration threatened UPenn with cut funding in March unless they erased Thomas’ records; in exchange, it has dropped its civil rights case claiming that UPenn had discriminated against cis women by allowing Thomas to compete following her transition.

College president J. Larry Jameson said in a separate statement: “While Penn’s policies during the 2021-2022 swim season were in accordance with NCAA eligibility rules at the time, we acknowledge that some student-athletes were disadvantaged by these rules.

“We recognize this and will apologize to those who experienced a competitive disadvantage or experienced anxiety because of the policies in effect at the time…

“We have now brought to a close an investigation that, if unresolved, could have had significant and lasting implications for the University of Pennsylvania.”

Lia Thomas herself, who made history in 2022 as the first trans woman to win a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) swimming championship, has not yet publicly commented on her titles being stripped, but in April, vowed to fight Trump’s trans athlete ban.

“I am going to keep fighting as much as I am able to,’ she told a trans youth forum, according to right-wing sports site Outkick. “In order to fight the battles we need to fight, we have to stick together and support [one another].”

Thomas retains her titles from intercollegiate victories.

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