Opinion | The author's opinion does not necessarily reflect Sarah Palin's view.
Appearing before the House Judiciary subcommittee, former UPenn swimmer Paula Scanlan spoke out against the school’s decision to allow the male-born Lia Thomas to use the women’s locker rooms.
6-foot-4 Thomas was allowed to use the women’s locker room and expose his male genitalia without any warning to females.
As a victim of sexual assault, Scanlan explained, “I was sexually assaulted on June 3rd of 2016. I was only 16 years old. I was able to forgive my attacker but violence against women still exists.” (Trending: FBI Caught Lying For Hunter Biden)
When Lia Thomas joined the team, the University of Pennsylvania offered @PaulaYScanlan and her teammates psychological services to re-educate themselves to become comfortable undressing in front of a man.
Listen to Paula's story 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/C4g4yTeCfU
— House Judiciary GOP 🇺🇸 (@JudiciaryGOP) July 27, 2023
After this horrific experience, Scanlan said she was forced to underdress in front of Thomas even if it made her uncomfortable. “My teammates and I were forced to undress in the presence of Lia, a 6-foot-4 tall biological male, fully intact with male genitalia 18 times per week,” Scanlon said.
“Some girls opted to change in bathroom stalls, and others used the family bathroom to avoid this,” she continued. “When we tried to voice our concerns to the athletic department, we were told that Lia’s swimming and being in our locker room was a non-negotiable, and we were offered psychological services to attempt to re-educate us to become comfortable with the idea of undressing in front of a male.”
“Once the season began, Thomas was leading the country in multiple events, while only placing in the top 500 in those events on the men’s team. Thomas later became an NCAA champion in the 500-yard freestyle — the first NCAA champion in our women’s team history program. While many of you already know this, what you do not know is the experience of the women on the University of Pennsylvania swim team,” Scanlan said.
“To sum up the university’s response, we the women were the problem, not the victims. We were expected to conform, to move over and shut up. Our feelings didn’t matter,” she said. (Trending: Trump Releases ‘Ad of the Year’)
23-year-old Riley Gaines, who is 12-time All-American and five-time SEC champ at the University of Kentucky, agreed with Scalan.
Arriving at the NCAA championship, Gaines said Thomas would expose male genitalia while in the locker room. “We were not forewarned beforehand that we would be sharing a locker room with Lia,” Gaines said.
“We did not give our consent, they did not ask for our consent, but in that locker room, we turned around, and there was a 6’4″ biological man dropping his pants and watching us undress, and we were exposed to male genitalia.”
🗣 "We did not give our consent, but in that locker room we turned around, and there’s a 6’4" biological man dropping his pants and watching us undress."
College swimmer demands separate locker rooms for transgender athletes after she was exposed to Lia Thomas’ 'male genitalia'. pic.twitter.com/Y5cCbIiS6w
— SPORTbible (@sportbible) February 10, 2023
Thomas sparked controversy by switching to the women’s team after competing on the men’s team for three years at UPenn. In men’s swimming, Thomas was ranked 554th in the 200 freestyle. While competing against female athletes, Thomas became a national champion and defeated everyone.
Scanlan concluded, “Let us not forget the viral #MeToo movement that empowered female victims to speak up. It casts a spotlight on the widespread prevalence of sexual assault and abuse, including in scholarly and educational institutions.”
