Teammate of trans swimmer Lia Thomas demands apology

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A former teammate of Lia Thomas is demanding an apology after being forced to change in the same dressing room as the controversial trans swimmer during their time competing for the University of Pennsylvania.

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Paula Scanlan says the female members of the university team were forced to change with Thomas, who swam for the men’s squad before switching to the women’s in the fall of 2021, “18 times a week,” according to her post on X (formerly Twitter).

“Okay, but is anyone going to apologize for forcing us to undress with him 18 times a week?” Scanlan posted in response to news that Thomas, 25, was refused permission to swim in women’s events at the Olympic Games in Paris this summer.

Thomas changed in the men’s dressing room when racing with the men’s team for three years but switched changing rooms when she started transitioning to female and swimming for the women’s team. And Scanlan says she wasn’t happy that Thomas was allowed to get naked in front of her female teammates.

“In general, bathrooms were a place I felt really uncomfortable,” Scanlan, a sex assault survivor, said in a 2023 interview, according to the New York Post. “I would just kind of relive the situation that I went through when I was 16.

“I would be at my locker and then all of a sudden hear a masculine voice, and I would just jump. I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, somebody got in here.’ I had nightmares for weeks about men being there while we were dressing.”

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Scanlan said she wasn’t the only one “uncomfortable” with Thomas changing with her fellow biological female swimmers. She said some started changing in bathroom stalls and family bathrooms to maintain their privacy.

Thomas dominated the women’s college swimming scene after transitioning to female, creating a storm of controversy about the fairness of the her competing against biologically female athletes. She became the first openly trans person to win the NCAA Division 1 title in 2022.

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