The University of Pennsylvania has agreed to ban transgender women from its women’s sports teams in order to settle a federal civil rights case that determined the school had violated the rights of female athletes.
The resolution was announced by the U.S. Department of Education, focusing on Lia Thomas, a transgender swimmer who made history by becoming the first openly transgender athlete to win a Division I title while competing for UPenn in 2022.
The big picture: The agreement includes the restoration of all individual Division I swimming records and titles to female athletes who had lost out to Lia Thomas, with personalized apology letters to be sent to each of them.
- It remains unclear whether Lia Thomas will be stripped of her awards and honors received while competing for the University of Pennsylvania.
- UPenn must now declare that it will not permit males to participate in female athletic programs and has been instructed to adopt biology-based definitions of male and female by the Education Department.
Driving the news: The federal investigation by the Education Department began in February and concluded in April, citing a violation of Title IX, a law prohibiting sex discrimination in education, prompting the resolution through a voluntary agreement.
- In February, the Education Department had urged the NCAA and NFSHSA to restore titles and records that were believed to have been “misappropriated” by biological males competing in female categories, with a specific focus on women’s swimming where Lia Thomas had won a national title in 2022.
- The NCAA and NFSHSA have not yet responded to the federal government’s request regarding reinstatement of titles and records, with complexities arising from determining the participation of transgender athletes in events years later, especially in college sports.
