swordfish Posted February 3, 2025 Posted February 3, 2025 Trump copies a Clinton move from 1995. Not so "politically correct" nowadays....
Muda69 Posted February 19, 2025 Author Posted February 19, 2025 https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/college/2025/02/19/lia-thomas-lawsuit-vs-ncaa-over-trans-athlete-rule-grace-estabrook/78898096007/?tbref=hp Quote Former Carmel High state swimming champion Grace Estabrook says she felt "shame" swimming with her University of Pennsylvania teammate Lia Thomas because she believed Thomas, a transgender woman, "tainted the results of their swims and made the competition unfair for their opponents." Estabrook says she would stand in the Penn locker room always wary, "a disruption to her peace and preparation for her swims knowing that Thomas could walk in at any moment while she was changing." The Penn administrators, Estabrook says, would tell Estabrook and her teammates that "if the women spoke publicly about their concerns about Thomas' participation on the women's team, the reputation of those complaining about Thomas being on the team would be tainted with transphobia for the rest of their lives and they would probably never get a job." These complaints by Estabrook, echoed by two of her former Penn teammates, are laid out in a 90-page lawsuit the three women filed against the university, the NCAA, the Ivy League Conference and Harvard University, citing harassment, abuse and federal law violations during the 2021-2022 women’s college sports season. The lawsuit alleges that Thomas’ eligibility to compete as a woman for Penn violated their Title IX rights. It also argues the NCAA’s rules which, at the time, allowed biological males to compete in the women’s category based on their preferred gender identity, was “discriminatory.” Estabrook, a two-time individual state swimming champion and three-time team state champ at Carmel, along with Penn teammates Margot Kaczorowski and Ellen Holmquist filed their lawsuit Feb. 4. It is backed and supported by the Independent Council on Women’s Sports. It claims the NCAA and Ivy League fostered a culture of intimidation while forcing young women to deny biology, jeopardizing their opportunities, privacy and safety. The complaint says these actions violated Title IX and failed to protect female athletes. “I never expected my Ivy League education to teach me that women must silently accept losing their opportunities and privacy,” Estabrook said in a statement. “Women’s sports and the leaders who oversee them should not prioritize men’s feelings over fairness and integrity.” Two days after the lawsuit was filed and one day after President Donald Trump signed an executive order, the NCAA announced the Board of Governors had voted to update the association's participation policy for transgender athletes. The NCAA's new policy "limits competition in women's sports to student-athletes assigned female at birth only. The policy permits student-athletes assigned male at birth to practice with women's teams and receive benefits such as medical care while practicing. This policy is effective immediately and applies to all student-athletes regardless of previous eligibility reviews under the NCAA's prior transgender participation policy." But that updated policy doesn't change the experience his clients faced in the past, according to sports attorney Bill Bock, a partner with Kroger, Gardis & Regas in Indianapolis who is representing the women. Bock resigned from his role with the NCAA last year over the organization's trans athlete rules. IndyStar reached out to Penn athletics, the Ivy League and the NCAA for comment on the lawsuit. Only the NCAA responded, sending a statement via email. "College sports are the premier stage for women’s sports in America," the statement read. "And while the NCAA does not comment on pending litigation, the Association and its members will continue to promote Title IX, make unprecedented investments in women’s sports and ensure fair competition in all NCAA championships." In a USA Today story in 2022, Thomas said she "belongs on the women’s team." "The very simple answer is that I'm not a man. I'm a woman, so I belong on the women's team," Thomas, a 22-year-old transgender woman, told Sports Illustrated in an interview published in 2022. "Trans people deserve that same respect every other athlete gets." ... I hope this lawsuit succeeds. 1
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