Trump VICTORY: University kicks men out of women's sports



In a massive win for the Trump administration — as well as women's rights — the University of Pennsylvania has modified a trio of school records set by transgender swimmer Lia Thomas as part of a resolution of a federal civil rights case.

Even better, the university will announce that it “will not allow males to compete in female athletic programs” and must adopt “biology-based” definitions of male and female.

UPenn will also send a personalized letter of apology to each impacted swimmer, like Riley Gaines.

“There’s going to be a lot of people that are going to be eating their words on that, which is absolutely fantastic,” BlazeTV contributor Matthew Marsden tells BlazeTV contributor Eric July and BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales on “Sara Gonzales Unfiltered.”


“But, I’ve got to say this, like where are we that we are looking at this as a win, that now we’re saying that a man cannot swim in women’s races? I mean, it is, don’t get me wrong. I’m loving it. I’m loving the fact that Trump has done it,” he continues.

“I mean, some of the conversations that I’ve been having over the last four years, I’m like, ‘Wow, I wouldn’t even have thought we would have had those conversations ever.’ Like even the whole transitioning of children,” July responds, adding, “but for some reason, there’s doctors that are out there still operating, by the way, and performing these surgeries on minors.”

“That is where the world has gone. It is screwed up. Nothing makes sense,” he continues. “It’s more like a course correction.”

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Lia Thomas’ ex-teammate spills unheard details after UPenn apology and policy flip



On July 1, the University of Pennsylvania was forced to apologize and retract awards from transgender swimmer Lia (Will) Thomas after a federal investigation found the school violated Title IX by allowing him to compete on the women's team. Awards and titles were restored to their proper female competitors approximately three years after Thomas stole them. On top of that, UPenn banned transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports altogether.

Rest assured, “UPenn is not sincere in their apologies,” says Liz Wheeler, BlazeTV host of “The Liz Wheeler Show.” “They're just trying not to have their federal dollars taken away from them by President Trump.”

To get the insider scoop on what it was like to train with and compete against Thomas, Liz invites former UPenn swimmer Paula Scanlan to the show.

  

Paula recalls the first time she saw Will Thomas, who was a swimmer on UPenn’s men’s swim team before he decided he was a girl. She was a sophomore and only 19 years old when one day, a meeting was called and Thomas was brought before the team.

“He just looks at us and goes, ‘Hey guys, just wanted to let you know I'm transgender; I'll be joining your team next season. Please refer to me now with she/her pronouns, and I'll let you guys know soon what I'm going to rename myself to, but for now, you can keep calling me Will,”’ she says. “I actually thought this was a prank. … I thought [my coach] was just going to say, ‘Gotcha!”’

She quickly found out that it wasn’t a prank when anyone who did not refer to Thomas using female pronouns was labeled “hateful and transphobic.” Many of the female swimmers, however, welcomed Thomas with open arms. “I saw my teammates clapping. They were like, ‘We're so proud of you. We're so excited for you being your authentic self. Thank you for sharing this with us,”’ Paula recalls.

Confused, she looked up the NCAA handbook and sure enough found the “transgender inclusion handbook,” which states that “if a man wants to join a women's swim team, he just has to suppress his testosterone for one year [and] he’s good to go in any women's sport."

The season kicked off, and Paula and her teammates were forced not only to practice with and compete with Thomas, they were also forced to share a locker room with him. “We were dressing in the locker room with him 18 times per week,” she says, noting that swimming is not like other sports in that being naked to change in and out of swimsuits is a requirement.

“That aspect was really, really hard,” she says.

Some teammates raised concerns about sharing a locker room with Thomas, but these complaints were always filed “privately” to avoid being seen as bigoted. Publicly, most swimmers, even the ones who secretly begged coaches not to room them with Thomas at travel meets, cheered that UPenn was “progressing transgender rights.”

Paula, however, was “open” about her opposition to Thomas competing on the women’s team. She even conducted some “anonymous interviews” with media outlets to get the word out about the injustice the UPenn women’s team was experiencing.

But when word got out on the team that she was the one behind these secret interviews, Paula was ambushed by her progressive teammates. One of them sent her the following text message:

— (@)  
 

“Now I think [the message] is funny,” says Paula, but “in the moment, I felt really alone and isolated in dealing with this.”

In the days following UPenn’s apology and restoration of awards to the proper winners, Paula hasn’t heard from many of her teammates. “Most of them agree with me. They just don't really feel comfortable saying that or sharing that,” which “shows why this was something that happened because if no one was willing to speak up, even though we all agreed, that's how the crazies were able to put in these nasty, wild policies.”

To hear more details of Paula’s story and the role she played in advocating for women’s rights, watch the video above.

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After UPenn, These Nine Schools Should Apologize For Trans Policies Or Lose Funding

UPenn came to an agreement with the Depart. of Education not because it was the right thing to do but because it could have lost funding.

ROOKE: What Could Have Taken Decades To Fix, Trump Did In Six Months

'They struck a deal with Trump'

UPenn To Strip Male Swimmer ‘Lia’ Thomas Of Stolen Women’s Championship, Apologize For Civil Rights Violation

The agreement does not just require UPenn to recognize rightful female winners, but also directs the university to acknowledge that 'male' and 'female' are biological realities and change its definitions to cohere with that obvious understanding.

UPenn caves to Trump's demands to strip transgender swimmer of titles and other concessions



The University of Pennsylvania has agreed to a slew of concessions to the Trump administration in relation to transgender athletes in the latest victory of the culture war.

President Donald Trump has made it a focus of his second term to oppose the movement equating transgender athletes to all other athletes, and the university caved to the pressure Tuesday.

'Today is a great victory for women and girls not only at the University of Pennsylvania, but all across our nation.'

The Department of Education announced that it had reached an agreement with the university that included stripping swimming titles from Lia (William) Thomas, a famous transgender athlete.

The university also agreed to ban biologically male athletes from female competitions, to restore all titles that female swimmers lost to Thomas, and to send a personalized apology letter to all swimmers.

"Today is a great victory for women and girls not only at the University of Pennsylvania, but all across our nation," Education Secretary Linda McMahon said. “The Department commends UPenn for rectifying its past harms against women and girls, and we will continue to fight relentlessly to restore Title IX’s proper application and enforce it to the fullest extent of the law."

RELATED: NCAA swimmers say they were told they may have 'psychological' problems if they had issues with Lia Thomas

  

Thomas won the national college title in 2022 in the 500-yard freestyle swimming event. The former swimmer said in April that he continued to support transgender athletes choosing to compete against the gender they chose.

"It has to be the athletes deciding for themselves where they feel most affirmed and most comfortable," he said. "Having routes that are safe and nondiscriminatory, that allow them access to that."

"Our commitment to ensuring a respectful and welcoming environment for all of our students is unwavering," reads a statement from university president J. Larry Jameson.

"At the same time, we must comply with federal requirements, including executive orders and NCAA eligibility rules, so our teams and student-athletes may engage in competitive intercollegiate sports," he added.

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EXCLUSIVE: UPenn Strips Lia Thomas Of Female Sports Titles, Education Secretary Pledges More Action

'To be the template and the model for other schools'

In Attempt To Insult Top Women’s Sports Defender, Simone Biles Confirms Difference In The Sexes

[rebelmouse-proxy-image https://thefederalist.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screenshot-2025-06-07-at-10.53.06 PM-e1749354850639-1200x675.png crop_info="%7B%22image%22%3A%20%22https%3A//thefederalist.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screenshot-2025-06-07-at-10.53.06%5Cu202fPM-e1749354850639-1200x675.png%22%7D" expand=1]Biles’ public ‘female-only sport for me but not for thee’ approach to the issue is not only hypocritical, but incredibly unpopular.

Trump admin: UPenn violated Title IX, must restore women's awards stolen by transvestite swimmer



The U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights announced Monday that it has found the University of Pennsylvania in violation of Title IX for allowing men to compete on its women's sports teams.

In order to resolve its violations of federal anti-discrimination law and to avoid a referral to the Justice Department for enforcement proceedings — which could lead to a loss of federal funding — the university has 10 days to take action.

The ED's proposed resolution agreement requires the institution to: notify the university community that it will now comply with Title IX in all of its athletic programs; "restore to all female athletes all individual athletic records, titles, honors, awards or similar recognition for Division I swimming competitions misappropriated by male athletes competing in female categories"; and send a letter to each female athlete whose recognition is restored apologizing "for allowing her educational experience in athletics to be marred by sex discrimination."

While the announcement did not explicitly reference any particular transvestite athlete, by the mention of swimming competitions, it is clear that the invasion of William "Lia" Thomas into women's sports and spaces was at issue.

Blaze News previously reported that Thomas was a middling performer on the University of Pennsylvania men's swimming team until he starting taking hormones in 2019 and competing against women.

Thomas, ranked 554th in the 200-yard freestyle for men, went on to crush records set by females in the 500-yard freestyle at the 2022 NCAA Division I championships and tie with All-American swim star Riley Gaines for fifth that April in the women's 200-meter.

According to Gaines, to whom the university must now apologize, it was around that time Thomas exposed his male genitalia in a women's locker room.

Paula Scanlan, a former University of Pennsylvania student athlete who was listed as a senior on Penn Athletics' Women's Swimming and Diving Roster and swam with Thomas, initially objected to his participation anonymously but put her name on record in 2023 to fight against male infiltration of female sports.

'I honestly don't think that they are sorry for what they did to us female athletes.'

"Little girls who look up to Riley Gaines and Paula Scanlan can find hope in today's action — the Trump Administration will not allow male athletes to invade female private spaces or compete in female categories," acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor said in a statement.

Trainor added, "UPenn has a choice to make: do the right thing for its female students and come into full compliance with Title IX immediately or continue to advance an extremist political project that violates federal antidiscrimination law and puts UPenn's federal funding at risk."

Scanlan said in a video statement Monday, "I don't think the University of Pennsylvania is going to apologize to anyone."

"I honestly don't think that they are sorry for what they did to us female athletes," continued Scanlan, adding that that by all indications, the university appears to believe men belong in women' sports.

Scanlan noted, for instance, that "the University of Pennsylvania nominated Lia Thomas for NCAA Woman of the Year. Each school gets only a few nominees and they chose Lia Thomas."

"They also told all of us female athletes that we needed to seek psychological services if we objected to him undressing in our locker room 18 times per week," continued the female athlete. "They continue to highlight Thomas' achievements all over social media and they would also sell out the stands of our swim meets to media so that they could take pictures of us in our swimsuits."

The Trump administration suspended approximately $175 million in grants and contracts to the University of Pennsylvania last month over its policies enabling men to compete in women's sports.

In response to the funding freeze, J. Larry Jameson, the university's president, effectively blamed the NCAA for Thomas' invasion of women's sports.

"For NCAA Division I sports, eligibility is governed by NCAA rules," wrote Jameson. "Beginning in 2010, the NCAA required that transgender student-athletes be permitted to participate on college teams. Penn has never had a transgender student-athlete policy of its own. During the 2021-22 season, a student-athlete who had transitioned while on leave from Penn the previous year competed in women's swimming, in full compliance with NCAA rules and Title IX policies in place at the time."

Jameson noted that when the NCAA revised its policy in compliance with President Donald Trump's Feb. 5 executive order, "Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports," the university followed suit.

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Penn Violated Federal Law by Allowing Biological Men in Women's Sports, Says Trump's Education Department

The Department of Education announced Monday that the University of Pennsylvania violated Title IX, a federal law that prohibits sex-based discrimination, by allowing biological men to compete in women's sports and enter female-only facilities.

The post Penn Violated Federal Law by Allowing Biological Men in Women's Sports, Says Trump's Education Department appeared first on .