Former University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas (Screen capture: YouTube)
More than two dozen Republican state attorneys general are calling for the National Collegiate Athletic Association to revoke medals that transgender athletes won.
In a letter to NCAA President Charlie Baker on July 23, the AGs called on the organization to “restore to female athletes all championships, titles, wins, awards, records, and other recognitions that were wrongfully awarded to male athletes competing in NCAA women’s category events.”
The letter, led by Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch, follows the Trump-Vance administration’s agreement earlier this month with the University of Pennsylvania, which will erase swimming records set by Lia Thomas, a former student who is trans.
The school also agreed to bar trans athletes from women’s sports moving forward in exchange for the Education Department’s release of $175 million in federal funding that was previously frozen on the grounds that the university had violated Title IX, the civil rights law barring discrimination on the basis of sex.
Allowing trans athletes to compete constitutes unlawful discrimination by unfairly disadvantaging cisgender women and girls, the administration has argued — a reversal from the position held prior to the start of President Donald Trump’s second term.
Research on the claim has been inconclusive, however, and medical interventions for the treatment of gender dysphoria like cross-sex hormones are believed to significantly reduce any biological advantages trans athletes may have.
Since he returned to the White House and issued an executive order titled “No Men in Women’s Sports,” Trump has gone after Maine and California for their policies allowing trans students to compete, again citing Title IX.
Wednesday’s letter also comes a day after the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee’s statement that trans athletes will not be allowed to compete on behalf of the U.S. in women’s Olympic sports.
Previously, each sporting body was able to set its own policy.
At the end of June, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a case challenging Idaho’s ban on trans athletes.
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