Transgender competitive swimmer Lia Thomas has taken legal action to challenge World Aquatics’ ban on trans competitors. She has recruited Tyr, a Canadian law firm, to challenge the ban in Switzerland’s Court of Arbitration for Sport, The Telegraph reported.
Thomas hasn’t been swimming since 2022, when World Aquatics, the governing body for competitive swimming, implemented a new rule disqualifying anyone who had undergone male puberty from competing in the female category.
In September 2023, Thomas visited the CAS to challenge the ban. However, World Aquatics requested the court to dismiss her case because she is not a member of USA Swimming, which is the U.S. member association impacted by World Aquatics’ rules.
Thomas’s lawyer, Carlos Sayao, slammed World Aquatics’ trans ban, calling it “discriminatory” and saying it causes “profound harm to trans women.”
“Lia has now had the door closed to her in terms of her future ability to practice her sport and compete at the highest level,” Sayao said. “She’s bringing the case for herself and other trans women to ensure that any rules for trans women’s participation in sport are fair, proportionate, and grounded in human rights and science.”
World Aquatics changed its rules in June 2022, three months after Thomas, who was then a University of Pennsylvania swimmer became the first trans woman ever to earn a national title. She controversially won the title in the women’s 500-yard freestyle at the NCAA championships in Atlanta.
Thomas had begun transitioning fewer than three years before her win. She had previously competed on the university’s men’s swim team. She said that she transitioned to be true to herself, not to have a competitive advantage.
According to a policy document created by World Aquatics, trans women are not allowed to participate in swimming competitions due to the physical advantages they retain from puberty, such as increased muscle mass and lung capacity. This applies even if they lower their testosterone levels through medication.
While World Aquatics accompanied its policy change by creating an “open category” welcoming trans female competitors, Thomas and other trans swimmers said that such a category doesn’t make them eligible to compete in higher levels of competition.
The Olympics has separate men’s and women’s swimming categories, no open category. Therefore, Thomas’s records in the open category wouldn’t help her advance to the Olympics.
“It’s been a goal of mine to swim at Olympic trials for a very long time, and I would love to see that through,” Thomas told Good Morning America in May 2022.
Furthermore, so few swimmers applied for World Aquatics’ open category that the category was canceled due to lack of interest in the upcoming Swimming World Cup event in Berlin, Germany.
Responding to the category’s cancellation, World Aquatics said, “Even if there is no current demand at the elite level, the working group is planning to look at the possibility of including open category races at masters events in the future.”
But sports journalist and Fair Play author Katie Barnes recently told LGBTQ Nation that the number of out trans athletes competing at the elite level is so small that it makes open categories unrealistic to maintain.
World Aquatics is confident that its gender inclusion policy is fair and remains committed to protecting women’s sports, according to a statement.