Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis took a swipe at male athletes who claim to be transgender “women” by slamming them as “frauds” on Friday.
Speaking at Liberty University, DeSantis took specific aim at transgender University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas. Though he did not use the swimmer’s name, there was no doubt about who DeSantis meant to reference.
“It is wrong to have a swimmer compete for three years on the men’s swim team, switch to the women’s team, and then win the women’s national championship,” DeSantis told his audience, Fox News reported. “That is a fraud. That is wrong.”
University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas accepts the winning trophy for the 500 Freestyle finals as second place finisher Emma Weyant and third place finisher Erica Sullivan watch during the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships on March 17th, 2022 at the McAuley Aquatic Center in Atlanta Georgia. (Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
The comments perfectly line up with the sudden championship swimming year experienced by Thomas. Born as William Thomas, the athlete was an entirely mediocre swimmer on the UPenn men’s swimming team for three years. But after taking a year off to “transition” to a female, Thomas rejoined the UPenn swimming program on the women’s team and was suddenly the school’s top woman swimmer. Thomas won the 2022 500 freestyle national championship after a season of multiple top times in the sport.
DeSantis’ comments came only days after top college swimming champion Riley Gaines was physically attacked by fascist, left-wing students at San Francisco State University.
Gaines lost a placing in the NCAA finals last year when she tied with Lia Thomas at the championships. Since then, she has become an outspoken opponent of men competing as transgender women in sports.
DeSantis has put his pen where his mouth is, too. He signed a bill into law back in 2021 that would protect women’s sports from the encroachment of men claiming to be women and said Florida intended to protect “women against discrimination.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks to Iowa voters gathered at the Iowa State Fairgrounds on March 10, 2023, in Des Moines, Iowa. DeSantis, who is widely expected to seek the 2024 Republican nomination for president, is one of several Republican leaders visiting the state this month. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
“In Florida, girls are going to play girls’ sports, and boys are going to play boys’ sports,” he said, adding that the new law as anything but “discrimination” against transgender people.
“I think the opposite’s true. I think if you have a biological male competing against these women athletes like we saw Selina [Soule] from Connecticut, she was deprived of being able to advance in New England regional because the top two finishers were biological males,” he explained, referencing a Connecticut high school track star who spoke in favor of the bill at the press conference.
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