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Former College Swim Stars Push for Passage of Georgia Transgender Athlete Law

AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

One would think the whole "transgender athlete" issue would be a dead horse that has been thoroughly beaten by now, but across the fruited plain, boys and men who are mediocre athletes are finding the dodge of claiming to be women and girls to compete unfairly against... women and girls.

It has been and remains a grossly unfair practice, and when you add the insult of having these men and boys in women's and girls' locker rooms and showers, well, the whole thing is well past intolerable. It's gotten to the point where several states are instituting legislative solutions to what should be painfully obvious to anyone who passed 8th-grade biology. One such state is Georgia, where on Thursday, a state Senate committee voted out the Fair and Safe Athletic Opportunities Act. The Act will presumably now go to the full Georgia Senate. The act would require men to play on men's teams and women on women's teams in the state schools and universities. Novel notion, isn't it?

Several (actual) female athletes are speaking out in support.

The bill would require athletes to participate on teams that align with their biological sex at birth. If it is signed into law, Georgia would become the 26th state in the U.S. to have a law in place to prevent or restrict transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports.

Georgia has been a prime frontier for this issue after the state hosted the 2022 NCAA women’s swimming championships, which included transgender swimmer Lia Thomas.

Lia Thomas, for those who may not be familiar with him, is a dude. He claims he's a woman, but he is apparently... intact. He's also tall, broad-shouldered, and much faster than the young women he competed against. That's because he's a dude.

One of the young women he competed (unfairly) against had some choice words.

Former North Carolina State women’s swimmer Kylee Alons, a 31-time All-American and two-time NCAA champion, spoke about the experience competing against and sharing a locker room with Thomas.

“We all were just guinea pigs for a giant social experiment formed by the NCAA regarding how much abuse and blatant disregard women would be forced to take in silence,” Alons said.

Alons recounted the emotions she felt sharing competitive areas with Thomas, and how much sadness she felt watching women lose out on chances to compete fairly at the event. Alons even said she wanted to cry and leave the event after seeing Thomas win the 500-meter freestyle.

“It all just felt so off and wrong,” she said.

And that wasn't the worst part.

“I go to the locker room that day only to see Thomas and realize there is no escape from this nightmare, no matter where I go. I had no idea he was going to be allowed in the women’s locker room as we did not consent to have a man in our locker room,” Lyons said.

“I am immediately on edge every time I enter that locker room afterward, knowing at any moment a man can walk in on me changing.

Lyons added she felt so uncomfortable she resorted to abandoning the locker room altogether and instead changed in a storage closet behind the bleachers.

Former University of Kentucky swimmer Kaitlynn Wheeler joined Lyons in recounting the experience of sharing a locker room with Thomas.

“Young women, teenage girls were forced to undress next to a fully intact biological male who exposed himself to us, while we were simultaneously fully exposed,” Wheeler said. “We were never asked. We were never given a choice or another option. We were just expected to be OK with it, to shove down our discomfort, our embarrassment, our fear, because standing up for ourselves would mean being labeled as intolerant or hateful or bigoted.”

You get the idea.


See Related: Yet Another Illustration of Why It's Wrong: Trans V'Ball Player Knocks Down Opponent With Vicious Spike

'Buy a Spine': Sen. Kennedy Gets NCAA Prez to Bend Knee on Key Point in Heated Exchange on Trans Athletes


There's nothing I can add to this illustration of just how wrong this practice is beyond what these young women have already said. And it's a travesty that this practice has gone on to the point where Georgia is considering legislation to make illegal what should be painfully obvious: That it's unfair to allow men to compete in women's sports, regardless of how they "identify." Allowing these men to use the women's locker rooms and showers is an order of magnitude worse.

We've been over the biological aspects of this time and again, and that alone would be reason enough to keep big, strapping dudes like Lia Thomas off of women's athletic teams. Men - like Lia Thomas - are larger, stronger, and have more stamina than women. These are facts. This entire nurturing of the idea that someone like Lia Thomas growing his hair out and shaving his legs makes him a woman and qualified to compete on a women's swimming team has to stop, and at least Georgia seems to be heading in that direction.

Personally, I don't believe Lia Thomas suffers from gender dysphoria. I don't think he believes himself to be a woman. I think he is cynically and unfairly gaming a system that allows him to win titles and awards he can't win compete for fairly against male opponents. He can shave his legs and claim to be a woman all he likes on his own time, of course. But if he wants to compete in swimming events, he should compete against his peers - men. 

Georgia should pass this law and put an end to this nonsense.

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