As Non-Surgical Gender Transition Dominates... Lawsuit in the US Claims "Violation of Female Athletes' Equal Rights"

Controversy Over Sports Fairness Arises Due to Transgender Athlete
Multiple Injuries Also Occur in High School Girls' Basketball Game

Ria Thomas (25, USA), a transgender swimmer competing without undergoing genital removal surgery, has faced public backlash from American female athletes. On the 18th (local time), ABC and UPI reported that 16 current and former female athletes affiliated with American universities filed a lawsuit on the 14th against the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), which allowed a transgender athlete who transitioned from male to female to compete in women's competitions.

The athlete in question is Ria Thomas. In the lawsuit, they claim that the NCAA violated the equal rights of female athletes and breached Title IX, a law prohibiting sex discrimination in educational programs, by permitting transgender athlete Thomas to compete in the women's division at the 2022 NCAA Swimming Championships.

Last January, current and former college athletes held a protest outside the NCAA convention in San Antonio, Texas, against the NCAA's regulations allowing transgender athletes to participate in competitions.
Photo by AP and Yonhap News

Thomas competed on the men's team from 2017 and underwent non-surgical gender transition from male to female through hormone therapy in 2019. Since 2021, she has competed on the women's team and in March 2022, she became the first transgender woman in U.S. history to win an NCAA title by finishing first in the 500-yard (457m) women's freestyle at the NCAA Championships. Previously, when competing in men's events, Thomas ranked around 400th. At that time, the NCAA allowed her to compete in women's events because she had undergone male hormone suppression treatment for over a year.

As fairness concerns grew, the International Swimming Federation strengthened its regulations in June 2022, stating that only athletes who underwent gender transition surgery before the age of 12 could compete in women's events. Previously, transgender athletes transitioning from male to female were allowed to compete in women's events as long as their testosterone levels were maintained below a certain threshold.

The athletes filing the lawsuit argue that the NCAA's participation rules discriminate against female athletes and are illegal. They are seeking to prevent the application of these rules in this year's competitions. They also demand that all records and titles based on competitions that allowed transgender athletes to participate be invalidated.

They stated, "The NCAA has deprived women of the opportunity to compete equally with men and infringed upon women's bodily privacy rights. We filed this lawsuit to uphold the promise of Title IX's gender equality education for future generations of women." The NCAA has not commented on the lawsuit but expressed its commitment to enforcing anti-discrimination laws, investing in women's sports, and ensuring fair competition in all NCAA championship events. Meanwhile, Thomas has filed a lawsuit with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to compete again in elite women's competitions.

Controversy Continues Worldwide Over Participation of Transgender Athletes in Competitions

Recently, there has been ongoing controversy worldwide regarding the participation of transgender athletes in competitions. The photo is not related to the specific content of the article. [Photo by AP·Yonhap News]

Recently, controversies over the participation of transgender athletes in competitions have continued worldwide. On January 24th, five transgender athletes competed in a women's college volleyball match held at a public university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Three were from Seneca College and two from Centennial College. They played full-time and demonstrated overwhelming performance. The match ended with Seneca College, which had more transgender athletes, winning. Subsequently, concerns were raised that female athletes were deprived of participation opportunities and that fair competition was compromised due to their presence.

On the 8th of last month, multiple injuries occurred in a U.S. high school girls' basketball game due to a transgender athlete. The transgender players used overwhelming physical power to push opposing female high school players, causing several players to fall and sustain various injuries.

The basketball team that recruited the transgender athlete claimed, "There were no issues in previous games regarding the use of transgender athletes, so we included them in this game as well," but refrained from commenting on the athlete's 'gender.' Meanwhile, the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association stated that there was no problem with the transgender athlete's participation according to their regulations.