Dennis Prager argues that Lia Thomas's NCAA swimming victory exposed the unfairness of transgender athletes competing in women's sports. The Court of Arbitration for Sport banned Thomas from future competition, and World Aquatics created an open category that was later cancelled for lack of participants. Prager frames protecting women's sports as a matter of common sense and safety.
Remember Lia Thomas, the swimmer for the University of Pennsylvania, the man who said he's a woman and he broke all these records? And, and the, uh, he was, uh, he defeated the University of Pennsylvania, he defeated the female swimmers there, he defeated female swimmers from other universities. University of Pennsylvania, another truly awful Ivy League institution backed him, her, completely against the women of their own swim team who were threatened not to speak out. It's amazing how the University of Pennsylvania— I think because most people don't know it's Ivy League, people don't spend as much time on awfulness of the University of Pennsylvania as they do on the awfulness of Harvard and Columbia. But it is. Leah Thomas will not take part in the upcoming— the New York Post— upcoming Paris Olympics after losing a legal battle in which she argued. It's interesting that the New York Post just says she, you know. What I would do, I wouldn't say he. If I were writing the article, I want to say, I want to acknowledge that, I would just repeat the name. I would have said a legal battle in which Thomas argued the rules prohibited, well, then you have to do her or him. It's tough. All right, anyway, so Leah Thomas lost this legal battle, prohibited from participating Thomas argued that participating, the prohibitions were invalid and unlawful. Thomas competed for 3 years as a male. I mean, this is really mind-blowing, no? At the, on the University of Pennsylvania swim team where he as a he, he didn't do much. But once he said he was a she, Dahman, quote, dominated the field of biological women to become the first openly trans person to win an NCAA division title in 2022. The matter was adjudicated by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, a Swiss-based international body for settling disputes that arise within the world of high-level athletics. And the Court of Arbitration for Sport wrote in its 24-page decision that Thomas was, quote, simply not entitled to engage with eligibility to compete in, uh, in WA— what is WA competitions? World Athletic, I guess. World Athletic Competition. What would have been one word? My report would have been one word. Oh, if you had written the report, it would have been one word? No? No. No, but you might have added, have a nice day. I wouldn't have. You would not have. I would have. Okay, I get it. In a statement, World Aquatics, not World Athletics. World Aquatics. Touted the ruling as a major step forward in our efforts to protect women's sports. World Aquatics policy was introduced after Thomas easily defeated Olympic silver medalist Emma Weyant by 1.75 seconds to claim the NCAA title in the women's 500-yard freestyle event. I didn't know that. So Thomas, I mean, 1 3/4 seconds is an enormous defeat, and he defeated the woman who was the champion of the country. This was NCAA, not University of Pennsylvania against another university. In a subsequent attempt to include as many athletes as possible, World Aquatics introduced a new— this is, this is the last sentence that I want to read to you from this. This is the best. In, in a, in a subsequent attempt to include as many athletes as possible, World Aquatics, or Aquatics, introduced a new, quote, open, unquote, category. Inclusive of transgender swimmers. This was meant to debut as an event in Berlin last October. However, this is the punchline, the category was canceled after nobody signed up to enter the field. Did you catch that sentence? Wow, nobody. That's astonishing. Nobody. I actually, I feel bad for any one of you who has a relative or friend who believes that it is fair for men who say they're women to compete in women's sports. See, this is not a political issue. This is an issue of common sense, of common decency. That's all it is. Men cannot— it is irrelevant what a man says he is with regard to women's sports or women's prisons or women's shelters. If you feel you're a woman, okay, we're not here to tell you what you should feel about yourself. But we have to protect women. I reported to you last week about the guy who said he was a woman to get into a women's prison and then raped two women. Now, if he raped two women, do you believe he's a woman? Are there any other female, female rapes in prison? Okay, but I do— I feel for you because it's tough when you love somebody to lose respect for them. I'm not saying all respect, but lose respect, it's a very painful thing. It's not a matter of just we disagree. There's something wrong with the way you think if you think it's fair for a man who says he's a woman to compete against women. It goes well beyond difference of opinion. For the full episode of The Dennis Prager Show, go to pragertopia.com, sign up, and become a full member.
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