One of the college athletes who sued the NCAA on Thursday was Riley Gaines, a former swimmer from Kentuckiana. They said that the NCAA violated their Title IX rights by letting transgender woman Lia Thomas participate at the national championships in 2022.
The lawsuit, which was filed earlier this month, says that the NCAA broke Title IX rules by letting Thomas race against real women. It says Thomas had an unfair physical edge because he swam for three years on the University of Pennsylvania’s men’s team before transitioning.
It was filed in U.S. District Court in Atlanta and talks about how shocked Gaines and the other swimmers were to find out they would have to share a change room with Thomas at the championships in Atlanta. There are records of several races they swam in with Thomas, including the 200-yard final, where Thomas and Gaines tied for fifth place but Thomas won the prize.
Thomas swam to go to Pennsylvania. Before she changed her gender, she played for the men’s team at Penn.
Thomas was the first openly transgender athlete to win a Division I title in any sport. He beat out three Olympic medalists to win the title. The rules say that Florida swimmer Tylor Mathie, who wasn’t a plaintiff, missed out on being named to the first team of All-Americans in that event because she didn’t make it to the final.
Some of the other plaintiffs were volleyball and track players.
The laws said that the plaintiffs should “bring this case to light for three generations of women the promise of Title IX that is being denied them and other college women” by the NCAA.
The NCAA said in a statement, “College sports are the best place for women to play sports in the United States. While the NCAA does not comment on pending litigation, the Association and its members will continue to promote Title IX, make unprecedented investments in women’s sports, and ensure fair competition in all NCAA championships.”
In 2022, the NCAA changed its rules about transgender athletes so that they would be more in line with those of other national sports governing bodies.
In the third part of the updated policy, national and international sports governing body standards are added to the NCAA’s rules. This is set to happen during the 2024–25 school year.
The law also names the University of Georgia system as a defendant since the 2022 championships were held at Georgia Tech, one of its schools. The suit tries to stop the NCAA from using its transgender qualifying rules at upcoming events in Georgia, saying that these rules “harm female athletes in violation of Title IX.”
The Georgia schools’ reps said they hadn’t been given the law and wouldn’t say anything about it.
