EXCLUSIVE: Former University of Pennsylvania Women’s swimmers Grace Estabrook, Margot Kaczorowski and Ellen Holmquist have brought a lawsuit against the university, Harvard University, NCAA and the Ivy League presidents’ advice on their experience in sharing a team of transkender swimming Lia Thomas. The trial does not name Thomas as an accused.
According to court documents obtained by Pakinomist Digital, Estabrok claims, Kaczorowski and Holmquist claim that Thomas’ eligibility to compete as a woman about UPENN violated their title IX rights. It argues that NCAA’s 2010, which allows biological men to compete in the female category based on their preferred gender identity, is “discriminatory.”
The women claim that the institutions “injured them by giving Thomas the opportunity to compete and violated them and violated federal law.”
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The trial also detailed the personal experiences that each of the women faced having to share a team and changing room with Thomas. Each of the plaintiffs claims the experience left them “repeatedly emotionally traumatized.”
The applicants claim that the university administrators pushed pro-trans ideology on them throughout the process of accepting Thomas on the team and in their dressing room. The former swimmers say they were led to feeling that their concern about being teammates with Thomas was rooted in a “psychological problem.”
“The Upenn administrators told the women that if anyone struggled to accept Thomas’ participation in Upenn Women’s team, they should seek advice and support from Caps and LBGTQ Center,” the trial claims.
“The administrators also invited the women to a speech entitled ‘Trans 101.’ Thus, the women were led to understanding that Upenn’s attitude was that if a woman on the team had some problem with a transidentifying man who was on his team that the woman had a psychological problem and needed advice.
Lia Thomas from Pennsylvania Quakers swims in the 500 yard freestyle event during a tri-meeting against Yale Bulldogs and Dartmouth Big Green at Sheerr pool on Campus at the University of Pennsylvania on January 8, 2022 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Hunter Martin/Getty Images)
The applicants also claim that the administrators warned them against speaking against the situation in public.
“The Upenn administrators continued to tell the women that if the women talked publicly about their concerns about Thomas’ participation in the women’s team, the reputation of those who complain that Thomas was on the team would be occupied with transphobia for the rest of their Life and they would probably never be able to get a job, ‘”the trial claims.
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Thomas, a biological man, previously competed for Upenn men’s swimming team from 2017-20 under the name, Thomas. According to the trial, Thomas was introduced by women’s swimming head coach Mike Schnur to the women’s swimmers during a team meeting in the fall of 2019 as their incoming teammate.
The trial claims that coaches and Upenn administrators told the women’s swimmers not to talk about Thomas’ situation. Schnur allegedly told the women’s swimmers that Thomas would not share a dressing room with them when they asked for the first introduction.
But that allegedly changed later.
Thomas officially began to practice and compete with women’s swimmers in the fall of 2021.
And that was when the female swimmers say they discovered that Schnur’s alleged claim that Thomas would not share a dressing room was not true.
“When Upenn’s woman’s swimmers returned to school in the fall of 2021, they were shocked to discover that Thomas was allowed to use the woman’s dressing room in Upenn and would be allowed to use the woman’s closet at swimming meetings,” the trial claims.
“Margot [Kaczorowski] only learned that Thomas had been authorized by Upenn to use the women’s dressing room when [Kaczorowski] Went in the woman’s dressing room to find Thomas in front of her and changed her clothes. “
According to the suit, Kaczorowski confronted Schnur in tears about her shock to discover that Thomas would now share a dressing room with her. She claims the coach replied by saying “I know it’s wrong, but there’s nothing I can do.”
“Coach Schnur told the plaintiffs he would be fired by Upenn if he didn’t let Thomas use the women’s dressing room and compete for the women’s swimming team,” the trial claims.
In December 2021, another team meeting was held to discuss Thomas’ presence on the team and the media attention, it collected, according to the court documents. The female swimmers claim that they were told that Thomas would continue to be on their team and that “Lia’s swimming is a non-negotiation.”
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The three female swimmers claim to think they would be removed from the team if they tried to protest on Thomas’ participation ahead of the 2022 Ivy League championship.
“Upenn swim team members were told by Coach Schnur and Upenn administrators that UPENN administrators coordinated closely with NCAA and Ivy League to make sure Thomas would be eligible for the Women’s Season 2021-2022,” claimed the suit.
“These statements about close coordination between Upenn, Ivy League and NCAA regarding Thomas’ eligibility led to Upenn -Kvindersam members to understand the resistance or protest against the participation of Thomas on the team or his presence in the dressing room would be meaningless and could result in women Removed from the team or from Upenn.
At the 2022 Ivy League Swimming Championships, Thomas first entered the 500-, 200- and 100-yard freestyle races that set pool and Ivy League records and was ultimately the highest scored swimmer at the entire meeting. That year’s competition was hosted at Harvard’s Bloodgett Pool in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
The University of Pennsylvania Swimmer Lia Thomas is with his teammates Hannah Kannan, Camryn Carter and Margot Kaczorowski after winning 400 yard freestyle relay in Cambridge, Massachusetts in the Ivy League woman and diving championships at Bloodgett Pool on February 19 in Cambridge, Massacheustts. (Kathryn Riley/Getty Images)
The trial claims that Harvard did not create any of the female athletes who did not want to share a dressing room or the toilet with Thomas.
“Harvard did not provide a unisex bathroom or separate bathroom that Thomas could use or for other women to use who did not want to use the women’s closet while Thomas used it,” claims the suit.
After Thomas’ record-breaking performance in Cambridge in February, the athlete continued to compete at the year’s NCAA championships. There was a notorious draw with former University of Kentucky Riley Gaines in that Thomas Hejse the trophy for photo-ops over the biologically female gains.
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Gaines has since filed his own lawsuit against NCAA along with several other female athletes who have been influenced by the association’s gender identity policy.
Other female competitors from the event that joined Gaines’ lawsuit have also talked about their experience with Thomas.
Former North Carolina State Women’s swimmer Kylee Alons, a 31-time Allamerican and two-time NCAA champion, talked about the experience that competed courage and shared a dressing room with Thomas, during a hearing of the Senate Committee in Georgia on January 30.
“We were all just guinea pigs for a huge social experiment formed by NCAA about how much abuse and obviously ignoring women who would be forced to silence,” Alons said. “I go to the dressing room that day only to see Thomas and realize that there is no escape from this nightmare wherever I go. I had no idea he would have permission has a man in our dressing room.”
Former University of Kentucky Swims Kaitlynn Wheeler joined Lyons to tell the experience of sharing a dressing room with Thomas during the January 30.
“Young women, teenage girls were forced to dress up next to a fully intact biological man who exposed to us while at the same time being fully exposed,” Wheeler said. “We were never asked. We never got a choice or other option. We just expected to be in order with it, to sky down our discomfort, our embarrassment, our fears because standing up for ourselves would mean to be labeled as intolerant or hateful or large.
Pakinomist Digital has reached Upenn, Harvard, Ivy League and NCAA for comment, but has not received a response at the time of publication.
NCAA President Charlie Baker dealt with concern about the issue of female athletes to share teams and dressing rooms with trans athletes during a Senate Legal Committee’s hearing in December.
Baker insisted that female athletes have the opportunity to find other homes if they are uncomfortable with sharing with transgender.
“Everyone else must have an opportunity to use other facilities if they wish,” Baker said.
Baker also says that NCAA’s policies that allow trans athletes to compete against women are based on federal standards.
These federal standards may change in the coming days.
President Donald Trump is ready to sign an executive order to ban trans athletes from competing in girls and women’s sports on Wednesday.
Meanwhile the House of Representatives Passed Protection of women and girls in the Sports Act 14 January 14, which would reduce federal funding to any public educational institution that allows transnry athletes to compete against girls and women in sports.
