The Washington Times
Three iconic figures in women’s sports made waves over the weekend by challenging the fairness of the NCAA‘s transgender policy amid University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas‘ record-smashing season. Tennis greats Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert jumped in after Olympic swimming champion Nancy Hogshead-Makar broke the ice by declaring that there was “nothing fair” about the NCAA rules allowing Thomas to swim on the Ivy League women’s team. “Thomas is proving that the advocates who assured the NCAA and their member schools that male puberty could be rolled back in a single year after consistent hormone treatment were wrong,” said Hogshead-Makar in a Friday op-ed for the [U.K.] Daily Mail, which was reprinted in Swimming World. “The rules should follow the evidence, and in this case it is clear: Thomas should not be in head-to-head competition with biological females,” she said. Her article was headlined, “It was not fair when I raced against doped-up East Germans and it is not fair for women to compete against transgender swimmer Lia Thomas.” Navratilova called the article “a well reasoned and fair take on trans women inclusion in women’s sports, IMO. Well done Nancy.” Evert responded Saturday with her own tweet: “I second that.” Their voices lent instant credibility and visibility to the pushback over the NCAA’s policy allowing transgender athletes to compete in women’s sports as long as they undergo a year of testosterone-suppression therapy, a standard that Hogshead-Makar decried as woefully inadequate.
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