Three former University of Pennsylvania swimmers have reportedly filed a lawsuit against the school and other organizations for allegedly violating Title IX by allowing Lia Thomas, a transgender woman, to compete in the 2022 Women’s Ivy League Swimming and Diving Championships.
The case was filed in federal court by 2022 graduate Grace Estabrook, 2024 graduate Margot Kaczorowski and 2024 graduate Ellen Holmquist on Tuesday, the Daily Pennsylvanian, a student-run newspaper at Penn, reported. The three swimmers competed with Thomas during the 2021-22 season. Along with Penn, the lawsuit also includes Harvard University, the Ivy League and the NCAA.
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The plaintiffs claim the four defendants violated regulations of Title IX — a federal law prohibiting sex discrimination in schools that receive federal funding — by allowing a "trans-identifying male swimmer" to compete in the championship.
In the suit, the three swimmers said they're seeking relief for "damages for pain and suffering, mental and emotional distress, suffering and anxiety, expenses costs and other damages against the NCAA, Ivy League, Harvard, and UPenn due to their wrongful conduct." They also alleged that in allowing Thomas to represent Penn women's swim team, the defendants deprived them and other competitors "of equal opportunities as women to compete and win while being denied the opportunity to protect their privacy in separate and equal locker rooms."
Holmquist claims she was left off Penn's 2022 Ivy League Championships roster because of Thomas, while Estabrook and Kaczorowski alleged they finished one place lower than they would have at the championships if Thomas hadn't competed.
Harvard was named in the lawsuit because it was the host school for the meet, and the three swimmers allege it violated Title IX by allowing Thomas to compete and not providing a unisex bathroom, or separate bathroom to be used by Thomas or other women who did not want to use the women's locker room bathroom while Thomas was. They also allege that Ivy League Executive Director Robin Harris and other members of the Ivy League Council of Presidents used Thomas to "engineer a public shock."
Thomas is reportedly not named as a defendant in the suit. She competed for Penn's women's swimming and diving team during the 2021-22 season following her transition, and won three Ivy League titles and set various program records. She also became the first transgender person to become a NCAA Division I champion after she won the women's 500-yard freestyle and was nominated by Penn for the NCAA's Woman of the Year award in 2022. She had reportedly hoped to continue to the Olympics, but competitive swimming's global governing body FINA effectively banned transgender athletes from participating in elite women's competitions in June 2022.
The lawsuit was filed a day before President Donald Trump signed an executive order banning transgender athletes from women's sports. The order, titled "Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports," will establish sweeping mandates on sex and sports policy and will direct federal agencies to interpret Title IX rules as prohibiting the participation of transgender girls and women in female sports categories.
On Thursday, the Department of Education launched an investigations into Penn — as well as San Jose State and the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association — over potential civil rights violations for the institutions allowing trans athletes to compete on women's teams.
