Conservative SiriusXM podcast host Megyn Kelly blasted the University of Pennsylvania for nominating the NCAA’s first transgender Division I champion as “Woman of the Year,” with the claim that it must be “some kind of sick joke meant to increase resentment towards trans people.” 

“After a season of dumping on its female swimmers, forcing them to compete against a biological man who now says he is a woman, forcing them to share a locker room with said swimmer, dismissing their and their parents’ concerns summarily at every turn, even telling the female swimmers what they needed if they objected to the trans swimmer was therapy,” Kelly began. 

“The university now sticks a final thumb in the woman’s eyes, nominating this trans swimmer who goes by the name Lia Thomas as the University of Pennsylvania’s NCAA ‘Woman of the Year.’ This is a disgrace,” she asserted. “Lia Thomas is not a woman.” 

Kelly called out Thomas for living “the first 20 years of her life” as a man, who was a “middling competitor” on the university’s men’s team for three years, before transitioning in 2020 and going on to rank first place while competing in the women’s division. 

She pointed out the the biological female members of UPenn’s women’s swim team have “less upper body strength” and “thinner and weaker muscles” than their male counterparts, along with the added bonus of training through the monthly symptoms of menstruation.  

“Then at UPenn in the course of one year, they saw their medals, first place finishes, NCAA tournament spots, and records stolen from them by a person who was a crappy male swimmer on the men’s team months earlier,” Kelly continued.

“Lia Thomas is not woman of the year,” she concluded. “That title belongs to one of the women who dealt with all the physical and emotional challenges and opportunities that come with being an actual woman…Not to a six-foot-three biological man who, within the last two years, declared that he was a woman. Period.”

Riley Gaines, the former University of Kentucky swimmer who is also nominated for the award and tied Thomas for fifth place in the NCAA 200 freestyle finals in March, slammed UPenn for their decision.  

“This is yet another slap in the face to women. First a female national title and now nominated for the pinnacle award in collegiate athletics,” she tweeted. 

“This award combines athletic performance with academics, service, and character. What character has Thomas shown other than sheer selfishness and entitlement? The disrespect and disregard for the other female athletes in Thomas’ interviews is eye opening,” Gaines concluded.

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