In a groundbreaking Title IX resolution, the University of Pennsylvania has agreed to revoke Lia Thomas’s women’s swimming records and prohibit transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports. The agreement follows a civil rights investigation by the U.S. Department of Education and is being celebrated by many as a long-overdue correction to restore fairness in female athletics.
What the Agreement Includes
The resolution requires Penn to remove Thomas’s records from the women’s leaderboard, reinstate the records of the biological female athletes she displaced, and send formal apology letters to those impacted. The university will also adopt policies to ensure that only biological women are eligible to compete in women’s sports teams going forward.
Lia Thomas’s Record-Breaking Season Reversed
During the 2021–2022 season, Thomas set program records in five freestyle events after switching from the men’s team. Though Penn has not completely erased her from the books, the new listing includes a footnote explaining that her times were set “under eligibility rules in effect at the time.” For the affected women, it’s not just a line on a spreadsheet—it’s a restoration of rightful recognition.
Title IX: Back to Its Original Intent
Title IX was passed in 1972 to protect women from sex-based discrimination and ensure equal opportunity in education and athletics. That core mission was challenged when biological males were allowed to compete in female divisions. The Trump administration’s position is simple: this law was never intended to force women to compete against athletes with male physiological advantages.
The Executive Order Behind the Shift
This change is the result of Executive Order 14168: Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government. The order mandates that sex-segregated spaces, including sports teams, bathrooms, and locker rooms, be determined by biological sex—not gender identity. Penn’s compliance brings it in line with this federal directive.
Restoring Competitive Integrity
The argument isn’t about denying anyone’s identity—it’s about preserving the integrity of competition. Athletic records matter. Titles matter. When those benchmarks are determined by who has a physiological advantage rather than who trained the hardest, the playing field isn’t just uneven—it’s erased. Restoring those records isn’t symbolic; it’s essential.
Financial Pressure and Federal Action
This deal didn’t happen in a vacuum. In March, the Trump administration suspended $175 million in federal research funds to Penn in response to its inclusion policies. The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights began its investigation in February and concluded that Penn’s policy disadvantaged cisgender women, violating Title IX. With funding on the line, the university agreed to change course.
Penn’s Response: Compliance, Not Contrition
Penn President J. Larry Jameson called it a “complex issue” and stated that while the university remains committed to being inclusive, it must also comply with federal law. His statement acknowledged that “some student-athletes were disadvantaged” and that resolving the matter was necessary to avoid “significant and lasting implications” for the university.
This Isn’t About Hate—It’s About Women
It’s important to note that this decision is not an attack on transgender individuals. No one is saying Lia Thomas isn’t entitled to dignity or respect. What this decision does say is that women’s sports were created for a reason—and that reason is fairness. Letting biology determine athletic categories isn’t bigotry. It’s reality.
A Warning to Woke Institutions
Penn may be the first elite university to publicly walk back its transgender inclusion policy in women’s sports—but it likely won’t be the last. With federal funding tied to Title IX enforcement and growing backlash from athletes and parents alike, other schools will soon face a choice: stand by fairness, or stand by and watch your credibility crumble.
A Win for Every Girl with a Dream
Whether it’s a high school student chasing a scholarship or a collegiate athlete training for the Olympic trials, this decision sends a clear message: women’s sports are for women. Not based on identity. Based on biology. That’s not exclusionary—it’s protective. And it ensures that the next generation of female athletes gets the chance to rise on their own merit.
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Thank God!!! Finally!! This should never have been allowed to happen in the first place! If transgenders want to enter sports, have a transgender sports event. That way you are pitting trans woman against trans woman! That is fair. Because no matter what you think, a man is always going to have advantage over a woman. Just because they want to be a woman, you cannot change your biology!
COMMON SENSE!!!!!!! FINALLY!!!!!! SMDH!!!!!
COMMON SENSE!!!!!!! FINALLY!!!!!! SMDH!!!!!
Bout time.
Stop feeding into this lie. There is no such thing as gender identity, as there is no such thing as species identity. These things are set irrevocably at conception. Your feelings in this matter change nothing and I, for one, refuse to play along. Cisgender is simply gender. Trans gender is a selfish feeling, keep it to yourself and don’t expect others to coddle you and your mental instability.