Trans swimmer Lia Thomas hits back at teammates who 'half support' her and women who 'use the guise of feminism to push transphobic beliefs' in fiery podcast calling out their implicit bias
- Lia Thomas called her critics and former teammates fake feminists for only 'half supporting' her while pushing transphobic beliefs
- 'I think a lot of people in that camp sort of carry an implicit bias against trans people,' she told fellow transgender athlete Schuyler Bailar
- Thomas said a 'true feminist' would be working for everyone to 'come together to sort of break down these patriarchal ideals of what a woman is'
Transgender swimmer Lia Thomas hit back at women who don't want her to compete in women's sports, claiming they were too scared to 'fully manifest' their 'implicit bias' and play it off as half-support.
The former University of Pennsylvania athlete joined the first NCAA transgender swimmer Schuyler Bailar on his podcast 'Dear Schuyler' Monday to discuss the division over whether or not trans-female athletes should be on women's sports teams.
Thomas, who was widely criticized throughout the swim season, has called her former teammates and critics fake feminists who are pushing transphobic values under the disguise that they are 'supporting women.'
'They're like: "Oh, we respect Lia as a woman, as a trans woman, whatever, we respect her identity, we just don't think it's fair."
'You can't really have that half support. Like I respect you as a woman here, but not here,' the NCAA gold medalist said on a promotional clip for the podcast, posted to Instagram.
'They're using the guise of feminism to sort of push transphobic beliefs. I think a lot of people in that camp sort of carry an implicit bias against trans people, but don’t want to, I guess, fully manifest or speak that out. And so they try to just play it off as this sort of half-support.
'You can't do that you can't sort of break down me as a person into little pieces.'
Bailar agreed with the controversial athlete, saying: 'They're coming from...this whole protect "protect women's sports," [which] has become a very big movement and that they do it under the guise of feminism. "Oh, we're just feminists, we're just fighting for women," and whenever anybody says that I'm always [like]: 'Okay, you're fighting for women by excluding women so that's not fighting for women.'
The athletes discussed how black women faced the same criticism that transgender women now face, saying that people 'don't want a woman who doesn't look like you perhaps or who isn't fitting your version of womanhood to win.'
Bailar went on to say that feminism has become 'twisted' and 'turned into excluding women' and reduced them to 'reproductive capacity.'
'At the end of the day, everybody's trying to - under a true feminist - is everybody trying to come together to sort of break down these patriarchal ideals of what a woman is and who can be a woman and sort of open that up to to the very broad range of possibilities that there are,' Thomas said.
Thomas' own teammates' parents wrote a letter in December to NCAA, demanding it change the rules that permitted the young transgender athlete to compete, declaring 'at stake here is the integrity of women's sports.'
'At stake here is the integrity of women's sports,' they wrote in the letter obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com. 'The precedent being set – one in which women do not have a protected and equitable space to compete – is a direct threat to female athletes in every sport. What are the boundaries? How is this in line with the NCAA's commitment to providing a fair environment for student-athletes?
'It is the responsibility of the NCAA to address the matter with an official statement,' the parents continue. 'As the governing body, it is unfair and irresponsible to leave the onus on Lia, Lia's teammates, Lia's coaches, UPenn athletics and the Ivy League. And it is unfair and irresponsible to Lia to allow the media to dictate the narrative without the participation of the NCAA.'
One of Thomas' biggest critics is former University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines recently asked for fellow competitor if it broke her heart to see women lose opportunities to transgender women.
'Lia Thomas [was] quoted saying, you know, "It breaks my heart to see trans kids lose out on opportunities." Replace that with word woman -- does it still break Thomas's heart to see women lose out on opportunities?' Gaines rhetorically asked on Piers Morgan Uncensored.
Earlier this month, Gaines also called Thomas 'selfish and said she had showed 'utter disregard for women' after the transgender swimmer, who competed as a male for three years, begged President Joe Biden to protect trans-athletes in sports.
Gaines tweeted: 'This take is selfish and shows an utter disregard for women. The Biden Administration is actively and aggressively working to pass laws that erase decent and fair treatment for women in sports.'
Gaines was left disgruntled after Thomas appeared in a video slamming Biden's proposal to alter the current Title IX civil rights law, which prohibits sex-based discrimination in schools.
She said trans athletes should be allowed to compete in school contests without exception.
Biden's planned change prohibits schools from imposing blanket banks on trans athletes in kindergarten through eighth grade.
In the roughly 90-second clip, Thomas says that the administration's rule doesn't go far enough in its protection of transgender athletes.
The bill, which is an amendment to Title IX - the federal civil rights law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex - would prohibit states from enacting blanket bans on transgender athletes competing against their non-biological sex in grades K-8.
It would not, however, prevent those sorts of bans against older trans athletes who are in high school and college.
Thomas, who competed for the University of Pennsylvania men's swim team before beginning her transition and making an entrance into the girl' locker rooms, says in the video that protections against trans athletes should extend beyond middle school.
Thomas said the proposed rule is a 'good start' but is 'not enough.'
'This rule is a good start. However, it is not enough. During this time of intense anti-trans backlash, the trans community needs explicit protections from discrimination in order to live our lives freely and equally,' said Thomas.
'All trans kids deserve the opportunity to compete and play in the sports they love without compromising who they are.'
The national swimming champ, who sported a tank top that read 'trans athletes belong in sports' in the video, encourages others to urge the Biden administration to amend the rule to include all transgender athletes, no matter their age.
