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Swimmer Leah Thomas, the first transgender athlete to win an NCAA Division I individual national title, spoke out about World Aquatics’ resolution to limit the participation of transgender athletes in elite women’s competition. As a result, he filed a lawsuit against World Aquatics with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
In June 2022, World Swimming announced a new eligibility policy for the competition, allowing male-to-female transgender athletes if they can prove they have not experienced any part of male puberty beyond Tanner. Only those in stage 2 (adolescence) or before the age of 12, whichever is later, are eligible to compete in the female category.
Previously, transgender women could compete as long as they had lowered their testosterone levels.
Thomas, a University of Pennsylvania swimmer who won the women’s 500-yard freestyle in 2022 and became the first transgender NCAA champion in Division I history, hopes to compete for a spot at the 2024 Paris Olympics. , new World Aquatics rules will prevent her from competing. .
CAS said Mr Thomas’ legal submissions were aimed at challenging certain parts of World Swimming’s policy regarding eligibility for men’s and women’s competitive categories.
“Ms. Thomas accepts that fair competition is a legitimate sporting objective and that certain restrictions for transgender women in swimming are appropriate,” CAS said in a statement released Friday.
“However, Ms. Thomas believes that the challenge provision discriminates against her in violation of the Olympic Charter, the World Aquatics Constitution, the European Convention on Human Rights and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Violence, and is therefore invalid and illegal. “Discrimination against women. And such discrimination cannot be justified as being necessary, reasonable or proportionate to achieving a legitimate sporting objective.”
“In bringing this matter to CAS, Ms. Thomas is seeking an order from CAS declaring the challenge provision unlawful, void, and of no force or effect.”
In June 2023, World Aquatics announced it would launch an “open” category that would include all transgender athletes.
Several sports governing bodies, including cycling and track and field, have also banned transgender athletes from elite women’s competitions over the past two years.
The debate over transgender athletes in school sports has intensified in the United States in recent years, with more than 20 states approving legislation targeting transgender girls and women athletes.
Some Republicans, including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, have promoted transgender sports participation as a culture war issue.
Last year, President Joe Biden’s administration proposed regulations to prevent future state bans, but they included loopholes that would allow school teams to create their own policies.
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