Guest Editorial: In Defense Of Lia Thomas and Her Right to Compete – Swimming World Magazine

Guest Editorial: In Defense Of Lia Thomas and Her Right to Compete

Swimming World is publishing the following guest editorial, written by Lucas Draper, a junior-year swimmer at Oberlin College.

Follow Lucas Draper on Twitter at: @lucas__draper

Lia Thomas is an athlete at the top of her game. She works hard for everything that she has accomplished. And yet, now she finds herself stuck in the spotlight, the target of a media frenzy simply about whether she should be allowed to compete as who she is.

Before I even begin to delve into the complex issue of transgender athlete participation in sports, I need to make it clear that Lia Thomas is a person first. No matter if you agree or disagree with whether she should be allowed to compete as a woman, she deserves some basic human decency. She is a woman, she uses she/her pronouns, and any reference to her otherwise is offensive.

I, myself, am a transgender male and have been on hormone replacement therapy for two months, competing in the male gender. I very much acknowledge that in terms of public scrutiny, I made the easier transition from female to male. I transitioned into what society deems the stronger gender. Society will tell you that I put myself at a disadvantage by competing as who I am, but I do not see it that way. I finally feel like me after so many years.

Lia Thomas experiences far more scrutiny over her physical form than I will ever have to deal with, and for that I say, Lia, I am so very sorry the world is being so mean to you. I hope people can come to see this isnt about you and your identity as transgender. Its about the larger policy, and people who are targetting you specifically need to understand that it is not your fault. You are being yourself, and since I dont think enough people are telling you this right now, I am proud of you. I look up to you for being able to be strong in the face of what the world is throwing at you right now.

Lia has faced enough media attention and does not deserve to be at the center of this issue. She has every right to compete as an athlete in the female gender. She is following the rules set out by the NCAA, and has jumped through the various hoops of medical and psychological testing they require, and for that, the attention should not be on her.

Instead, I will present you with the facts of the decision by the NCAA, as well as newer research that should potentially be considered by the NCAA if it decides to revise these rules. I am also only going to focus on transgender females (sorry ladies) since they are the ones under the metaphorical microscope right now.

The NCAA is a national body that does not make decisions lightly. Given the amount of paperwork and approvals I had to obtain, I can attest to this. In the NCAA publication entitled, Inclusion of Transgender Student-Athletes (ITSA), the organization lists 10 guiding principles on which their decisions are made in regards to transgender participation.

Among this list, it states that transgender athletes should have equal opportunity to participate in sports and the integrity of womens sports should be preserved. They also clearly state that policies governing sports should be based on sound medical knowledge and scientific validity.

I am not going to pretend that I can change the opinions of those that believe transgender females should not be allowed to compete in the female gender, but I do want to present to you the sound medical knowledge on which this decision was based. If one ventures down the ITSA document far enough, Appendix B presents a variety of sources on which this decision was based. I do not expect anyone to read those sources, so I shall provide you with the important notes from some of the most relevant pieces. You can go read the rest for yourself if you are so inclined.

The ITSA document was written in 2011, based on sources ranging from 2004 to 2009. The fact of the matter is, at the time when the NCAA needed to make a decision, there was not enough data to be able to conclusively determine if hormone therapy would severely improve an athletes performance. So, based on the information they had available to them, the NCAA made a decision.

Despite the document citing many different sources for its decision, when you take a deeper look, each paper references data from the same study.

This study from 2004, conducted by VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam, stated that the changes that took place during the first year of the administration of cross-sex hormones (were no different than) when measured two years later. It suggested that requiring transgender female athletes to wait two years to compete in their correct gender was unnecessary since no noticeable impact on performance had occurred during the second year.

One paper prepared by Dr. Michaela Devries, referenced by the ITSA document, interprets the results of this study to suggest there is evidence that one year of hormone suppressants is enough to level the playing field. The paper analyzes multiple points of performance, such as hemoglobin levels (related to oxygen in the blood), which are all reduced to the same levels as those assigned female at birth.

The main point of contention with transgender female athletes is their muscle mass. Non-supporters argue the muscle these athletes gained while identifying as male continues to impact their performance. However, this study suggests that is not the entire story. Dr. Devries states that estrogen decreased muscle cross-sectional area, however (this) was still greater than those assigned female at birth.

Dr. Devries goes on to state that, although the average was greater in transitioned women, there was a dramatic range in both cross-sectional groups. Which presents the main reason transgender athletes should be allowed to participate in their chosen gender. There is a spectrum of physicalities for both those assigned male and female. At one end physically born women have smaller muscle cross-sectional area, (and at the other end) muscle cross-sectional area was equal between transitioned women and physically born women. This research suggests that we cannot simply look at a persons gender and say you will out perform her simply because she is female and you were born male. Its not fair.

In saying that, there is more recent research coming from the Childrens Mercy Division of Adolescent Medicine, Kansas City, and the San Antonio Milliary Medical Center, Fort Sam, Texas in 2020 that suggests perhaps two years is not enough time for transgender women to wait.

Researchers analyzed the number of pushups, situps, and the time taken to run a mile for transgender athletes, both transmale and transfemale, before and after two years of hormone replacement therapy to determine the effect of hormones on performance. They found that after two years, there was no difference in the number of pushups and situps performed in a minute by both cisgender and transgender women. However, the transgender women were on average still 12% faster in their mile times.

We simply do not know the difference between skill and physicality. I have seen many races in my time where those assigned female at birth outswim those assigned male at birth, even when they have both received the same training. It happens all the time. So, why should transgender female athletes, who have gone through the process of hormone suppression be penalized, when the world of sports is so widely varied anyway? No transgender athlete wants to compete in their preferred gender simply because they could get an edge. We want to compete in that gender because that is how we truly identify. If you look at transgender women and get angry at them for competing, why do you not get angry at athletes with exceptional ability who identify with their sex assigned at birth?

I wanted to take hormones long before I actually started treatment, and I finally changed my mind and started treatment because hearing ladies step up before the start of a race began to hurt just a bit too much.

I go to every swim meet with a plastic pocket filled with every piece of medical documentation and letters I have received which allows me to compete as a man, just in case some official or opposing coach decides to question me. No transgender athletes should have to fear abuse for being who they are and for following the rules laid out for them.

So Lia, if you are reading this, I know this is tough and you are just following the rules. I am so sorry the world is putting you at the face of this issue and I hope people can finally leave you alone, and talk about this more as an issue of transgender participation, not the world vs. Lia Thomas.

All commentaries are the opinion of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Swimming World Magazine nor its staff.

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Guest Editorial: In Defense Of Lia Thomas and Her Right to Compete - Swimming World Magazine