Lia Thomas, a transgender female athlete on the University of Pennsylvania women’s swim team, lost to another trans athlete in the 100-meter freestyle. The Yale women’s team’s Iszac Henig, assigned female at birth, won that race. Henig identifies as a trans man who has not yet begun hormone therapy to continue his transition.
Thomas has completed more than two years of testosterone-suppression therapy in her transition from male to female. Thomas’s participation on the women’s team has sparked controversy among some of the other swimmers’ parents, who wrote a letter of disapproval to the NCAA.
The NCAA’s policy regarding transgender students’ participation in sports is that trans women–those transitioning from male to female–must undergo at least a year of hormone therapy to compete in the women’s division.
But researcher Dr. Christina Marie Roberts said it takes two years for trans women’s athletic performance to level out with that of cisgender women. Roberts’ finding was the result of a study she conducted on athletic performance among trans women as they underwent gender-affirming hormone therapy while in the Air Force.
