Former Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines was among more than a dozen college athletes who filed a lawsuit against the NCAA on Thursday, accusing it of violating their Title IX rights by allowing transgender woman Lia Thomas to compete at the national championships in 2022.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Atlanta, details the shock Gaines and other swimmers felt when they learned they would have to share a locker room with Thomas at the championships in Atlanta. It documents a number of races they swam in with Thomas, including the 200-yard final in which Thomas and Gaines tied for fifth but Thomas, not Gaines, was handed the fifth-place trophy.
Thomas swam for Pennsylvania. She competed for the men’s team at Penn before her gender transition.
Thomas was the first openly transgender athlete to win a Division I title in any sport, finishing in front of three Olympic medalists for the championship. By not making the final, the lawsuit mentions that Florida swimmer Tylor Mathieu, who was not a plaintiff, was denied first-team All-American honors in that event.
Other plaintiffs included athletes from volleyball and track.
Organisation x holds a competition. They stipulate the rules for the competition. You don’t agree with the rules. You don’t have to participate. You are also allowed to express you displeasure with organisation x’s decisions. Maybe organise your own competitions. Maybe yours will be better. The sky is the limit!
I will say; I don’t care too much who these people compete with or against. But I do support their right to complain about it.
I totally agree with this!
I remember how bummed out I was when they didn’t allow Miis in my local smash competition, but I didn’t sue them for it!
Their event, their rules. That’s literally how it goes in the e-sports arena. I don’t see why it would be any different anywhere else.