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Penn Swimmers Voice Support for Transgender Teammate Lia Thomas

Members of the Penn women’s swimming and diving team released a statement announcing their support for Lia Thomas amid recent criticism of the transgender swimmer.

Thomas competed for Penn’s men’s swimming team for three years before transitioning and moving to the women’s team. This season, she has set multiple program records and has qualified for next month's NCAA swimming and diving championships in the 200-yard, 500-yard and 1,650-yard freestyle events.

In the last two months, multiple national outlets have published anonymous accounts attributed to Penn swimmers and parents that denounced Thomas’s participation on the women’s team.

“We want to express our full support for Lia in her transition,” the athletes said, per ESPN.