Lia Thomas, transgender swimmer: Trans women are women!

• swimming

Lia Thomas, a transgender swimmer who competes in the women's category, is still the target of criticism. In a recent interview with ESPN, Lia talked about many things. One of the first topics was the reason for moving to the women's category.

"The biggest misconception, I think, is the reason I transitioned. People will say, Oh, she just transitioned so she would have an advantage, so she could win. I transitioned to be happy, to be true to myself." Thomas believes that she is not a threat to other competitors, although she is dominant there.

Many point out that she has genetic advantages that make her superior. "Trans women competing in women's sports does not threaten women's sports as a whole," Thomas said for ESPN. "Trans women are a very small minority of all athletes.

The NCAA rules regarding trans women competing in women's sports have been around for 10-plus years. And we haven't seen any massive wave of trans women dominating. If you say, like, you can compete, but you can't score or you're in an extra lane nine, that's very othering towards trans people," Thomas said.

"And it is not offering them the same level of respect and opportunity to play and to compete."

Lia Thomas: Trans women are women

Lia wanted to emphasize once again that trans women are actually women. "It's no different than a cis woman taking a spot on a travel team or a scholarship.

It's a part of athletics, where people are competing against each other. It's not taking away opportunities from cis women, really. Trans women are women, so it's still a woman who is getting that scholarship or that opportunity.

Having seen such hateful attacks on trans rights through legislation, fighting for trans rights and trans equality is something that I've become much more passionate about and want to pursue," she said.