This week, one of Will “Lia” Thomas’ former teammates demanded an apology for being forced to share a locker room with Thomas and undressed around him “18 times a week.”
The former University of Pennsylvania swimmer, Paula Scanlan, made the remark on X (formerly Twitter) after news broke that Thomas would be barred from competing against women in the Olympics, which Townhall covered.
“Okay, but is anyone going to apologize for forcing us to undress with him 18 times a week?” Scanlan wrote.
okay, but is anyone going to apologize for forcing us to undress with him 18 times a week? 🤔 https://t.co/KKLq1Akelv
— Paula Scanlan (@PaulaYScanlan) June 14, 2024
In January, Townhall reported how Thomas was engaged in a “secret” legal battle in hopes of overturning a rule established by World Aquatics prohibiting males who think they’re “transgender” from competing against women. Thomas had asked the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland to overturn the rules, which he claimed were “discriminatory.”
Two years ago, Thomas selfishly competed against female athletes at the college level after competing on the men’s team at UPenn for three years. He robbed deserving female athletes of awards and opportunities. Not to mention, he made women like Scanlan, who is a sexual assault survivor, feel uncomfortable in their spaces.
In an interview with Matt Walsh last year, Scanlan explained that she found out in the fall of 2019 that Thomas, one of the leaders of the men’s swim team, would be “transitioning to the women’s team” after taking hormone replacement therapy for a year.
“It [the locker room] was uncomfortable. I did notice a few girls – there’s a few bathroom stalls in the bathroom – and I did notice some girls changing in the bathroom stalls for practice, which I’ve never really seen that before,” Scanlan said. “For me personally, the biggest thing was, when you’re changing, there’s all these people talking in the background, all these women’s voices, and then all of a sudden you hear a man’s voice. I’d always kind of jump a little bit [hearing Thomas’ voice].”
Scanlan explained that the girls were scared into silence by the school’s athletic department.
“There was something going on in that athletic department that wanted to keep us quiet. And I was like, ‘this is getting scary,’” Scanlan explained. She said that girls were told in a meeting, without Thomas present, “do not talk to the media, you will regret it.”
“Another thing they said is, ‘Lia’s swimming is non-negotiable,’ and then they provided us with counseling services to help us be okay with Lia swimming,” she added. “I was petrified.”
“They [UPenn] continued to tell us that our opinions were wrong and if we had an issue with it we were the problem,” she said, adding that they made the girls think their future jobs were on the line if they spoke out.
“They effectively silenced us even within talking to each other,” she said, adding that she held out hope that an institution like the NCAA would step in and “do the right thing.” Instead, the NCAA, as well as other institutions, allowed Thomas to continue to compete.
“Looking back, I don’t know why I ever even trusted that they might,” Scanlan acknowledged. “These institutions failed us.”