The issue of men who believe they are “transgender” competing in women’s sports was pushed to the forefront over Will “Lia” Thomas. As Townhall covered, Thomas competed on the women’s swim team at the University of Pennsylvania after competing on the men’s team for three years.
Predictably, Thomas robbed biological women of opportunities and won races competing against women. At the NCAA championships, Thomas took home a NCAA Division I Title. And, when he tied against Riley Gaines at the NCAA championships, he was permitted to take the trophy home, while Gaines left empty-handed.
The outrage over Thomas prompted several sports' governing bodies to revise their policies to protect the integrity of women’s sports. This week, one sport announced that it will scrap it’s plans to include an “open” category for transgender athletes.
On Tuesday, World Aquatics, the governing body for swimming, announced that its first “open category” to accommodate transgender athletes has been scrapped because it received “no entries.” The category was to be offered at a World Cup starting in Berlin this week.
“Even if there is no current demand at the elite level, the working group is planning to look at the possibility of including open category races at Masters events in the future,” World Aquatics said, according to multiple reports.
Update on the Open Category competitions at the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup – Berlin 2023https://t.co/Swb49Uqkpq
— World Aquatics (@WorldAquatics) October 3, 2023
In July, Townhall reported how World Aquatics announced that its “open” category would be created to include transgender athletes. The organization’s president, Husain Al-Musallam, called it a “very complex topic.”
“I am delighted to tell you today that we are now making plans for the first trial of an open category, and we hope to be able to confirm all the details soon,” Al-Musallam said, adding that “our sport must be open to everybody.”
BREAKING: World Aquatics has announced plans to create an "open category" for transgender swimmers in order to better protect female athletes.
— REDUXX (@ReduxxMag) July 25, 2023
The news comes one year after the sporting body ruled that males would be banned from women's elite competitions. pic.twitter.com/1fP8FDe43I
“It was very important that we protected fair competition for our female athletes,” he added. “But, you have heard me say many times that there should be no discrimination. Nobody should be excluded from our competitions. This is why I announced last year that I would set up a committee to look at the best way to implement an open category.”