UPenn Bans Trans Athletes And Erases Their Records In Deal With Trump Admin
UPenn has agreed to strip athletic records from trans female athletes, including Lia Thomas.
The University of Pennsylvania will erase the records set by trans swimmer Lia Thomas and will block trans athletes from female sports teams as a result of an agreement with the US Department of Education.
Thomas made history as the first transgender athlete to win an NCAA Division I title in 2022, but quickly became the focus of anti-trans rhetoric spurred on by fellow swimmer Riley Gaines. The Trump Administration moved to investigate Thomas’ participation in the 2021-2022 swim season and UPenn’s adherence to Title IX, even threatening to withhold $175 million in federal funding unless the school barred trans athletes from women’s sports.
“Our commitment to ensuring a respectful and welcoming environment for all of our students is unwavering,” said UPenn President J. Larry Jameson in a statement. “At the same time, we must comply with federal requirements, including executive orders, and NCAA eligibility rules, so our teams and student-athletes may engage in competitive intercollegiate sports.”
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When Thomas competed in the NCAA, UPenn complied with both NCAA eligibility rules and Title IX. As a result of Trump’s executive orders, NCAA eligibility rules changed in February of this year to limit competition in women’s sports to athletes assigned female at birth only.
As part of the resolution reached between the university and the Department of Education, UPenn has agreed to release a public statement reaffirming their commitment to comply with Title IX which includes adherence to the definitions of sex defined by executive orders, to review and update the Penn women’s swimming records set during that season, and retroactively reassign records and to personally apologize to any swimmer who was placed in a competition with a trans athlete.
“Today is a great victory for women and girls not only at the University of Pennsylvania, but all across our nation. The Department commends UPenn for rectifying its past harms against women and girls, and we will continue to fight relentlessly to restore Title IX’s proper application and enforce it to the fullest extent of the law,” said US Secretary of Education Linda McMahon in a statement.
UPenn’s public statement promises that the university will not “on the basis of sex—exclude female students from participation in, deny female students the benefits of, or subject female students to discrimination under, any athletics programs. In addition, in providing to female student-athletes intimate facilities such as locker rooms and bathrooms in connection with Penn Athletics, such facilities shall be strictly separated on the basis of sex and comparably provided to each sex.”
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UPenn has agreed to right its wrongs, restore records to the rightful female athletes, and issue an apology to the women impacted by the man they allowed to compete as a woman.
— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) July 1, 2025
Are pigs flying?
God bless @realDonaldTrump. pic.twitter.com/PZxcieyp7m
Riley Gaines, who has used her loss to Thomas to propel her anti-trans message nationally through the Riley Gaines Center and the Riley Gaines Act, will now receive the sole fifth-place spot in her 2022 race against Thomas, where the two tied for fifth. Gaines tweeted, “UPenn has agreed to right its wrongs, restore records to the rightful female athletes, and issue an apology to the women impacted by the man they allowed to compete as a woman. Are pigs flying?” Gaines wrote. “God bless @realDonaldTrump,” she added.
