Philadelphia

The University of Pennsylvania caved to pressure and struck an agreement on July 1 with the Trump administration to ban trans athletes. In exchange, the government restored $175 million in federal funds to the university.

In March, Trump paused the federal funding, because Penn had allowed transgender swimmer Lia Thomas to compete with the women’s team during the 2021-22 season, when she earned a medal for fastest time. Thomas won a trophy for finishing first in the 500-yard freestyle race during the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) women’s swimming and diving championships in Atlanta in March 2022. She was the first transgender woman to claim a Division I national title.

In the agreement with Trump, Penn said it would remove Thomas’ records and give them instead to swimmers who held the next best times, whom they would apologize to. The Ivy League university agreed to adhere to Trump’s twisted executive order titled “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government” that bars trans athletes from women’s sports.

But it is questionable why this university, with a $22.3 billion endowment as of June 30, 2024, needed to make a policy change to retain a $175 million grant. Penn has also bowed to pressure from Trump and others to restrict the free speech rights of faculty and students opposing the U.S./Israel genocide in Gaza. After first agreeing to allow the Palestine Writes conference on campus in September 2023, the Penn administration tried to stop it just weeks before the event.

Jessa Lingel, an associate professor of communications at Penn and director of the Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies Program, called Penn’s capitulation “a huge disappointment.” Lingel told the Philadelphia Inquirer: “Penn had the opportunity to stand up for their institutional commitment to equal opportunity and open inquiry. Trans people at Penn and their allies are going to see this as a betrayal and a ratcheting up of extreme politicization in higher ed.” (July 2)

Lingel noted that Penn was complying with NCAA policy at the time Thomas competed and would have been on firm ground to reject Trump’s demands. She said,  “I think the real apology should be to LGBTQ students on campus who are going to feel like they’ve been used as a political football.” (inquirer.com, July 2)

SCOTUS new threat to trans communities

Penn’s sellout came just days before the Supreme Court of the United States announced it would take up two cases next term that involve transgender athletes competing in school sports. Twenty-seven states have enacted bans similar to Trump’s executive order.

In one of the cases SCOTUS will review, transgender student Lindsay Hecox is challenging the ban in Idaho where she was denied being able to compete on the Boise State University track team. Becky Pepper-Jackson, now 15, is challenging a West Virginia ban that would have prohibited her from competing in track and field as a middle schooler.

LGBTQIA2S+ rights activists are questioning the Supreme Court’s agreeing to review lower courts’ rulings that gave states room to modify existing bans. Shannon Minter, legal director of the National Center for LGBTQ Rights, said: “It is a shame for the Supreme Court to escalate this issue needlessly at the very moment when there are good faith efforts to come up with reasonable, middle-ground approaches. This Supreme Court seems disturbingly eager to cut short these important policies and political discussions. There is no good reason for the Court to take these cases at this early stage.” (Washington Post, July 4)

During a trans youth forum held on Zoom on March 29, Lia Thomas responded to the Trump administration’s attacks on transgender athletes by saying: “It’s so easy to feel isolated and alone and demoralized, especially nowadays in the current climate. In order to fight the battles we need to fight, we have to stick together and support each other.” (inquirer.com, March 29)