Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on Tuesday has denounced transgender swimmer Lia Thomas as the winner of the NCAA 500-yard freestyle championship.
“She earned that. We need to honor that appropriately,” DeSantis told reporters of Emma Weyant, who came in second during the championship. “The NCAA is basically takings efforts to destroy women’s athletics.”
The governor said that the NCAA is undermining “the integrity of the competition” and Thomas’ victory sends a wrong signal to women.
By allowing men to compete in women's sports, the NCAA is destroying opportunities for women, making a mockery of its championships, and perpetuating a fraud.
In Florida, we reject these lies and recognize Sarasota's Emma Weyant as the best women's swimmer in the 500y freestyle. pic.twitter.com/tBmFxFE3q6
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) March 22, 2022
On Twitter, DeSantis posted a list of Weyant’s accomplishments and continued to call her the “rightful winner.”
“Florida rejects the NCAA’s efforts to destroy women’s athletics, disapproves of the NCAA elevating ideology over biology, and takes offense at the NCAA trying to make others complicit in a lie,” declared DeSantis.
Last year, the governor signed into law a bill banning transgender athletes from joining female teams. However, the NCAA updated its transgender participation policy in January to defer to the guidance of each sport’s governing body.
“I can tell you this: in Florida, girls are going to play girls’ sports, and boys are going to play boys’ sports,” DeSantis said after signing the bill. “That’s what we’re doing, and we’re going to make sure that that’s the reality.”
Despite the NCAA’s claim that Thomas was the winner, Weyant was the “People’s Champion” with users on social media celebrating her as the real winner of the event.
“Congrats to Virginia freshman Emma Weyant, the woman who would have won tonight’s NCAA title in the 500 meter if women’s sports were still sane,” wrote one user.
“Emma is the 1st place winner in the women’s swimming competition. NCAA should be ashamed of themselves as they are destroying women’s sports,” said another.
Thomas’ victory has been the subject of debate about whether transgender female athletes should compete against biological females in sporting events.
Last month, a letter attributed to 16 members of the University of Pennsylvania women’s swimming team was published online, denouncing Thomas’ involvement in the team.
“We fully support Lia Thomas in her decision to affirm her gender identity and to transition from a man to a woman. Lia has every right to live her life authentically,” read in the letter. “However, we also recognize that when it comes to sports competition, that the biology of sex is a separate issue from someone’s gender identity.”
