A group of nearly 40 female professional swimmers, including Olympians, signed an open letter demanding that the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) implement stronger protections for women’s sports against the unfair participation by so-called “transgender” athletes.
Fox News reports that the letter’s signatories include a retired head coach, several participants in the Olympics, a former USA Swimming national team director, and numerous NCAA champions.
“It’s hard to express the anguish the women’s swim community has experienced this past week watching the 2022 NCAA Swim & Dive Championships,” the letter reads in part.
One of the names on the letter is Marshi Smith, a former NCAA champion who had sent a letter of her own to NCAA leadership prior to the release of the open letter.
“Since the adoption of Title nine, young mothers like myself…and most of the women from the University of Arizona on our list have small children, for the first time ever we feel like our daughters may not have the same opportunities for success that we did,” Smith said in an interview.
Smith explained that she and the other signatories decided to come together after watching the latest victory by “transgender” swimmer Will Thomas, a male Penn State student who is pretending to be a woman and now goes by the name “Lia.” Back in March, Thomas, who has been allowed to compete in women’s swimming since announcing his new identity, won the 500-meter freestyle race in March, becoming the first transgender NCAA champion in Division I.
“Individually we felt like we didn’t have a voice,” Smith continued. “We weren’t being asked our opinions or possible solutions to what was going on. We are asking the NCAA, do we have a voice?”
Smith then revealed that, while the NCAA has not yet responded to the open letter, they had sent a separate response to her earlier letter. NCAA President Mark Emmert replied to Smith’s concerns by declaring that “the Board of Governors firmly and unequivocally supports the opportunity for transgender student-athletes to compete in college sports.”
“The NCAA’s current policy is anchored in the evolving science on this issue and in the sport-specific policies of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee’s national governing bodies,” Emmert’s response added. Smith responded in the interview by pointing out that “a policy anchored in evolving science is not a good enough explanation to women athletes as to why a biological man competing in female sports is fair.”
A group of nearly 40 female professional swimmers, including Olympians, signed an open letter demanding that the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) implement stronger protections for women’s sports against the unfair participation by so-called “transgender” athletes.
Fox News reports that the letter’s signatories include a retired head coach, several participants in the Olympics, a former USA Swimming national team director, and numerous NCAA champions.
“It’s hard to express the anguish the women’s swim community has experienced this past week watching the 2022 NCAA Swim & Dive Championships,” the letter reads in part.
One of the names on the letter is Marshi Smith, a former NCAA champion who had sent a letter of her own to NCAA leadership prior to the release of the open letter.
“Since the adoption of Title nine, young mothers like myself…and most of the women from the University of Arizona on our list have small children, for the first time ever we feel like our daughters may not have the same opportunities for success that we did,” Smith said in an interview.
Smith explained that she and the other signatories decided to come together after watching the latest victory by “transgender” swimmer Will Thomas, a male Penn State student who is pretending to be a woman and now goes by the name “Lia.” Back in March, Thomas, who has been allowed to compete in women’s swimming since announcing his new identity, won the 500-meter freestyle race in March, becoming the first transgender NCAA champion in Division I.
“Individually we felt like we didn’t have a voice,” Smith continued. “We weren’t being asked our opinions or possible solutions to what was going on. We are asking the NCAA, do we have a voice?”
Smith then revealed that, while the NCAA has not yet responded to the open letter, they had sent a separate response to her earlier letter. NCAA President Mark Emmert replied to Smith’s concerns by declaring that “the Board of Governors firmly and unequivocally supports the opportunity for transgender student-athletes to compete in college sports.”
“The NCAA’s current policy is anchored in the evolving science on this issue and in the sport-specific policies of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee’s national governing bodies,” Emmert’s response added. Smith responded in the interview by pointing out that “a policy anchored in evolving science is not a good enough explanation to women athletes as to why a biological man competing in female sports is fair.”