Mar 19, 2022; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Penn Quakers swimmer Lia Thomas finishes eighth in the 100 free at the NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships at Georgia Tech. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports
A lawsuit was filed on Tuesday by three former University of Pennsylvania swimmers, calling for the Ivy League to expunge records set by transgender swimmer Lia Thomas while at Penn.
Ellen Holmquist, Grace Estabrook and Margot Kaczorowski, all former members of the Penn women's swimming program, filed the suit claiming they suffered from emotional trauma after having a transgender teammate.
The suit was filed a day prior to President Trump signing an executive order that banned biological men from competing in women's sports, regardless of their gender identity.
“From now on, women’s sports will be only for women,” Trump said while signing the order, before threating to pull federal money from schools who don't comply. “If you let men take over women’s sports teams or invade your locker rooms, you will be investigated for violations of Title IX and risk your federal funding."
“The war on women’s sports is over”–@realDonaldTrump 👏👏👏
TRUMP HAS JUST SIGNED THE ‘NO MEN IN WOMEN’S SPORTS’ EXECUTIVE ORDER 🥳
Time to step up Australia!
cc: @AlboMP @PeterDutton_MP #SaveWomensSports #AusPol pic.twitter.com/r0yqnnKEuC
— Rachael Wong (@RachaelWongAus) February 5, 2025
According to the lawsuit, which was obtained by Fox News, the complainants allege that federal laws were abused and violated by the Ivy League, the NCAA, UPenn and Harvard University (which hosted the 2022 Ivy League championship_ by allowing Thomas to compete on their team and in sanctioned women's swimming events.
Thomas was not named as a defendant in the lawsuit.
“The UPenn administrators told the women that if anyone was struggling with accepting Thomas’ participation on the UPenn Women’s team, they should seek counseling and support from CAPS and the LBGTQ center,” the lawsuit alleges.
Estabrook, who graduated in 2022, and Holmquist and Kaczorowski, who graduated last year, claim that when they complained to the university, that the response was always pro-Thomas and that this resulted in the three women being "repeatedly emotionally traumatized" by the school.
The lawsuit alleges that Penn administrators created an intimidating culture that tried to force these student athletes to become biology deniers.
The administrators invited the swimmers to an event titled "Trans 101" that indicated having a problem with someone identifying themselves by a certain gender was indicative of a psychological issue that would require counselling. Further, they allege they were told not to speak out against Thomas as it would create a transphobic smear on their name that could affect future employment opportunities.
The complaint also accused the school, the Ivy League and the NCAA of conspiring to ensure Thomas had eligibility remaining to compete on the women's team in 2021-22, which was a fifth year of eligibility.
However, many student athletes were granted an additional year of eligibility by the NCAA - not just Thomas - because of lost time, or seasons, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The lawsuit alleges that even after Thomas was declared eligible to compete for the women's team that Thomas wouldn't be sharing a locker room with the team. However, the school allegedly changed it's policy and didn't tell the other swimmers in advance.
“Margot only learned that Thomas had been authorized by UPenn to use the women’s locker room when she walked in the women’s locker room to find Thomas in front of her changing his clothing,” the lawsuit noted.
She allegedly brought it to the attention of Penn coach Mike Schnur who indicated that his hands were tied by the university.
Additionally, the filing seeks a ruling that would declare Thomas as ineligible to compete in women's races and to vacate the records.
Thomas originally competed for the Men's team for three years, before switching to the women's team for the 2019-2020 season.
Thomas set pool and Ivy League records in multiple freestyle swimming events and specifically broke several women's records at the Ivy League Championship meet at Harvard in 2022.
