Penn Caves to Trump Administration on Transgender Athletes
Plus, beware stinging Asian needle ants.
Transgender swimmer Lia Thomas, when she was swimming for the University of Pennsylvania in 2022 (Getty Images)
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University of Pennsylvania Caves to Trump Administration on Transgender Athletes
Donald Trump has made it very clear that he wants to purge girls’ and women’s sports of transgender athletes, and he just scored a major victory in that particular culture war.
The University of Pennsylvania has agreed to change its historical athletics documentation to remove three school records set by transgender swimmer Lia Thomas. She competed for Penn until 2022, the year she won a Division I title, making her the first openly transgender athlete to do so.
As of Tuesday afternoon, Penn had wiped her name from its list of record holders, giving those records to the next fastest people on the team. At the bottom of Penn’s website showing all swimming records, there’s now this note: “Competing under eligibility rules in effect at the time, Lia Thomas set program records in the 100, 200 and 500 freestyle during the 2021-22 season.”
“While Penn’s policies during the 2021-2022 swim season were in accordance with NCAA eligibility rules at the time, we acknowledge that some student-athletes were disadvantaged by these rules,” Penn President Larry Jameson said in a statement. “We recognize this and will apologize to those who experienced a competitive disadvantage or experienced anxiety because of the policies in effect at the time.”
And speaking for the Trump administration? It’s none other than Department of Education Secretary Linda McMahon. (Yes, as in WWE/Vince McMahon.)
“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,” said McMahon.
Penn is also sending personalized letters of apology to each new record holder.
As In the Son of John
Congressman Dwight Evans has announced that he won’t seek reelection, and Pennsylvania State Senator Sharif Street, son of former mayor John Street, wants the job.
Headlines We Didn’t Need
From the Inquirer: “Stinging Asian Needle Ants March Into Philly.” Yikes!
Beat the Heat
Take a dip in one of these natural swimming holes near Philadelphia. (Hopefully stinging Asian needle ants don’t swim.)
By the Numbers
1: Days the big strike in Philly lasted before the city won a preliminary injunction that forces 911 operators to go back to work for a week.
$27: What it will cost you to try this new Center City bar’s Agave cocktail.
$59,143: Restitution this Philly realtor has to pay to American Airlines after his bad behavior at the airport led them to cancel a flight. (He’s missing out on 2,190 of those Agave cocktails!)
Local Talent
Philly R&B great Jazmine Sullivan shares the stage with LL Cool J this Friday for the big Fourth of July concert in Philadelphia. That’s a great lineup. But Philadelphia has had its share of not-so-great Fourth of July lineups, some of which I explore here. Whose idea was it to hire those “Who Let the Dogs Out” guys?
