Roanoke College Swimmers Unify to Protect Women’s Spaces and Rights As Transgender Female Seeks Spot on Women’s Roster

Roanoke College Swimmers Unify to Protect Women’s Spaces and Rights As Transgender Female Seeks Spot on Women’s Roster

Roanoke College swimmers are fighting to keep a transgender athlete from competing as a member of the women’s team after competing for the school as a male. A New York Post story said three captains of the team said the possibility “tore the team apart” and they felt “abandoned by the school and the NCAA.”

The trans swimmer has not been identified but the report said she has opted to leave the team. The Post said Roanoke College officials have claimed they had never made any decision about allowing the trans athlete to participate. Yet, members of the team said the school led them to believe that the prospective trans athlete would be part of the roster.

According to team members, the NCAA and school left the women on the squad to confront the trans athlete and inform her that the team did not support her presence due to the unfair advantages of being born male.

“This fall a Roanoke College student who identifies as trans (male to female) requested consideration to join and compete with the women’s swim team,” a spokesperson said in a statement. “While the College’s leadership was reviewing NCAA and national sport policies on eligibility, the student withdrew her request before any decision had been made.”

The issue of a transgender female racing for a women’s team and against female athletes was a major storyline at the NCAA level two years ago, when the University of Pennsylvania’s Lia Thomas competed for the Quakers. Thomas was an average swimmer on the men’s team, but rocketed to an NCAA title in the 500-yard freestyle at the 2022 NCAA Women’s Champs. Science has shown that males who reach puberty cannot fully roll back their physical advantages over females.

“I never expected to be blindsided by a teammate from the men’s team who now wanted to compete against me and my fellow swimmers and shatter our records,” Roanoke captain Bailey Gallagher said.

The report notes Gallagher was supportive of the trans swimmer’s transition and all three captains, according to the report, said they have no problem with the trans swimmer as a person, but were “worried about her competitive advantage and the possibility that other schools would refuse to compete against Roanoke.”

The captains, including Gallagher, Lily Mullens and Kate Pearson, held a team meeting to discuss the issue and said they felt pressured to stand by the swimmer “because she felt suicidal because of the efforts to oust her.”

“Why even try to swim when racing against a biological male?” Mullens asked. “Our defeat was written in biology.”

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SteveJ

7 months ago

This should be an easy call for the NCAA – whatever gender is specified when start your NCAA eligibility is your gender for the entirety of the period. Since the person in question swam as a male for the college, then the person should not eligible to swim competitively as a female.

Swim Dad

7 months ago

Reply to SteveJ

Ones gender is determined at conception–not the start of your NCAA eligibility.

RoanokeAlum

7 months ago

Reply to Swim Dad

If we want to get technical, sex is determined at 7 weeks post conception with the presence or absence of the SRY-gene. Try again

Jackie

7 months ago

Women should never be placed in the position for a biological male to be on their swim team. A man can say he is a woman all day but he is always xy chromosome. And it’s an unfair advantage for him to swim with the women. With these situations let’s just follow the science.Men who do this to get on any female team is just trying to gain an unfair advantage just like Lea Thomas. The bottom line is they are old fashioned cheaters. It should never happen.

RoanokeAlum

7 months ago

The entirety of this discussion lays on false premises and amounts to bigotry. As a former member of the team, I remember that after the swimmers first year there were discussions about their future on the team as they were reflecting on their personal identity. The discussions from then are in stark contrast to what the swimmers speaking out have said. It’s sad that they have to resort to lying to achieve their hate. They say it’s about protecting women’s sports and they don’t want to compete with someone who has an alleged advantage. The swimmer was coming back with the understanding that they would be a member on the team who would compete solely as an exhibition swimmer. This means that while they could train and compete with the team, their points and thus placing at competitions would not count towards the overall. The comparisons to the Lia Thomas case are thus completely invalidated as Lia Thomas was allowed to score and place whereas this Roanoke swimmer would not have been able to score and place, only compete and participate in the sport that she loves. Can you imagine any athlete asking to come back to a sport knowing they would not be able to score or place? That would mean they solely do it for the love they have for the sport. Again, this is in stark contrast to the statements pushed by the swimmers speaking out. They don’t want to admit it, but this is solely coming from a place of hate and bigotry that has long been persistent on that team. I can only hope they come to recognize that their actions have not only affected them but also others.

-11

Swim Dad

7 months ago

Reply to RoanokeAlum

You’re wrong Roanoke Alum. One hundred percent wrong. This has nothing to do with bigotry, everything to do with the fairness of competitive womens sports. And the word “biological” can be erased from all forms of the discussion. Men are men, women are women, and that is how fair competitive sports are played. I know, I’ve been an athlete my entire life.

Skinny Hippo

7 months ago

Reply to RoanokeAlum

LMAO okay Audrey. If you are going to speak up on a situation you were not here for, at least have your information correct.

Roanoke Swim Mom

7 months ago

Thank you for a fair and balanced story. This issue is not about gender identity – it’s about biological reality. We need USA swimming to stand up for these young women and ensure that there is a rule – not only did these ladies suffer (and are currently suffering the consequences of speaking up) but this put the vulnerable trans* athlete, our truly awesome coaches and Roanoke College – in a lose/lose situation.