A teammate of Lia Thomas at the University of Pennsylvania said the biological male who was competing on the women's team regularly showed off his genitalia in the women's locker room and that the university barred women on the team from complaining about Thomas.
Paula Scanlan said in an interview with Matt Walsh that she and her teammates were traumatized that they had to change in adjoining stalls to avoid seeing Thomas’s genitalia.
Scanlan shared an incident where a female swimmer was forced off the team because Thomas had taken her spot. Initially, the swimmer went to the Penn athletic department in tears but she “was completely on-board with Thomas competing like it was some magical, beautiful thing” after meeting with administrators.
Walsh stated that the “most disturbing” revelation made by Scanlan was that the university’s manipulation made the women on the team question their own judgement and common sense.
"They knew it was wrong to have a man on the team but the gaslighting campaign was extremely effective," Walsh noted.
Scnalan said she and her teammates were threatened with punishment by the school’s athletic department if they dared to speak out:
"There was something going on at the Athletic Department that wanted to keep us quiet. I was like, 'this is getting scary.' Two days later they had a formal meeting with us, with Lia excluded, and we were told you would regret talking to the media. They also told us Lia swimming with us is non-negotiable and provided us with counseling services to ‘help us be okay’ with it. It’s incredibly startling."
"They continued to tell us that our opinions were wrong and if we had an issue about it, we were the problem and it's frightening and your future job is on the line," Scanlan said.
Scanlan is joining former University of Kentucky swimming star Riley Gaines in speaking out about the presence of biological males in female sports.
In 2022, Scanlan appeared anonymously in Walsh's documentary "What is a Woman?"
She echoed similar sentiments put forward by Gaines saying in her interview: "This is about fighting for women and girls across the country."
This is huge!!!! Courage begets courage. Thank you @PaulaYScanlan !!! Another voice and face to the movement. Let's flood her with support! https://t.co/hhPEr2sJXF
— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) June 5, 2023
Free Press International
[Freedom Is Not Free!]
