Former Penn swimmer Lia Thomas has been at the center of the transgender student athlete debate. Here’s what to know

Lia Thomas is a former University of Pennsylvania swimmer who drew harsh criticism for her success as the first openly transgender athlete to win a Division I championship in 2022, the year she graduated.

Thomas is now in the news again. The White House announced Wednesday the Trump administration has suspended approximately $175 million in federal funding for Penn over the swimmer in the wake of President Donald Trump’s executive order designed to ban transgender athletes from competing in girls and women’s sports.

Implications

Penn becomes one of the first examples of an institution facing financial consequences.

Trump’s executive order signed last month allows federal agencies to withhold funding if an entity does not follow the administration’s interpretation of Title IX, which prohibits sex-based discrimination in schools and colleges.

That order considers “sex” as the gender assigned to someone at birth. The NCAA changed its participation policy the day after Trump’s order came down, limiting participation in women’s sports to athletes assigned as female at birth.

Previously, the NCAA deferred to an individual sport’s national governing organization, international federation or prior established International Olympic Committee criteria to determine a transgender athlete’s eligibility.

Key decision

Thomas sought an arbitration hearing with the governing body World Aquatics in her attempt to clear the way to being able to compete in elite women’s races on the world stage, but last June judges ruled she didn’t have standing to challenge the rules that were approved in 2022.

The Switzerland-based Court of Arbitration for Sport panel featuring three judges dismissed Thomas’ request to overturn the rules she claimed were invalid, unlawful and discriminatory.

World Aquatics banned transgender women who have been through male puberty from competing in women’s races. The swimming governing body also introduced an “open” category for which transgender athletes would be eligible.

In its argument to the Swiss court, World Aquatics said Thomas wasn’t a member of its member federation USA Swimming when the legal case was started. She also had not entered female events “for the purpose of qualification or selection” for World Aquatics competitions, such as the Olympics or world championships.