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University of Pennsylvania swimmer William "Lia" Thomas smiles on the podium after winning the 200-yard freestyle during the 2022 Ivy League Women's Swimming and Diving Championships in February. Kathryn Riley/Getty Images

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PHILADELPHIA (LifeSiteNews) — University of Pennsylvania swimmer William “Lia” Thomas, a gender-confused man who competes against women in swimming meets, recently joined Disney-owned ABC and ESPN for an interview about his life and competition.

The special, called “Trans swimmer Lia Thomas breaks silence” addressed the controversy around the Penn swimmer. He swam with mediocre results against male swimmers, but then called himself a woman and began to dominate against women swimmers, including a victory in the 500 yard freestyle NCAA championships in March.

The ABC host said Thomas was “assigned male at birth.”

“I didn’t feel like I was a boy. I was like, this is not me,” Thomas told ABC. “This isn’t who I am.”

Thomas claimed he “lost muscle mass” and “became a lot weaker” after beginning “hormone replacement therapy.”

When asked about the suggestion that Thomas has an unfair advantage, the swimmer said there are “a lot of factors” that affect swimming ability.

“There are a lot of factors that go into a race, and how well you do, and the biggest change for me is that I’m happy,” Thomas said. He then said that his “transition” helped him become more “authentic.”

“We transition to be happy, and authentic, and our true selves. Transitioning to get an advantage is not something that even factors into our decisions,” Thomas said.

“Trans women are not a threat to women’s sports,” Thomas told ABC.

Multiple swimmers have spoken out against Thomas’ domination of women’s swimming.  Riley Gaines, a University of Kentucky swimmer who tied for fifth with Thomas, told Tucker Carlson that the NCAA forced her to give a trophy to the gender-confused man. “We’re just going to give the trophy to Lia. We respect and admire your swim, but Lia needs to hold the trophy,” an official reportedly told Gaines.

“It’s finally gotten to the point where it’s being shown, and it’s completely violating women and women’s rights, especially in sports,” Gaines told the Fox News host. “I am almost certain I’m speaking for a large majority of female athletes that this is just not okay and it’s not fair.”

Virginia Tech and Olympic swimmer Réka György wrote an open letter demanding the NCAA prevent the domination of women’s sports by men, though György used feminine pronouns to refer to Thomas.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a proclamation that declared University of Virginia swimmer Emma Weyant the “rightful winner” of the 500 yard freestyle championships.

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