UPenn students express fear of retaliation from leftist classmates over opinions on trans swimmer

The student, who is female, described a hostile environment for students who share her opinion on the issue.

UPenn students express fear of retaliation from leftist classmates over opinions on trans swimmer
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Students are the University of Pennsylvania have anonymously voiced discontent at a transgender peer who has been allowed to dominate the female swim team. Lia Thomas, as previously reported by Rebel News, the swimmer managed to break multiple female swim records in representing UPenn in the college sport.

“Pretty much everyone individually has spoken to our coaches about not liking this. Our coach [Mike Schnur] just really likes winning. He’s like most coaches. I think secretly everyone just knows it’s the wrong thing to do,” a female Penn swimmer told OutKick in early December. “When the whole team is together, we have to be like, ‘Oh my gosh, go Lia, that’s great, you’re amazing.’ It’s very fake.”

Speaking to the Daily Wire under the condition of anonymity for fear of various social and academic repercussions, several students told the publication that there exists tremendous pressure for objectors to hide their opinions about Thomas’ presence in the women’s sport.

“Thomas is not a woman, he is a male. It’s a simple rationale and shouldn’t need to be further explained,” said a finance student to the publication. “Their idea of ‘acceptance’ is to not give you a platform — by shaming or forcing you out if you have views that are too far from their own.”

“For a university where we are all supposed to bring ideas and differing viewpoints to grow, the pressure to be silent rings loud and has catastrophic implications,” the student added.

Speaking to the Daily Wire, the student says she is “not surprised” that administrators have refused to intervene on behalf of the female swimmers and have instead publicly supported Thomas.

A male student who is studying neuroscience at UPenn, said that “the issue with Thomas swimming against women is basic biology.”

“You don’t need a life science degree to know that testosterone gives a massive advantage for physical strength. Not to mention increased red blood cell counts that provide greater oxygenation during long distance exercises, lower natural body fat percentages, and so on,” the male student noted. “Biological men are physically advantaged over women by nature.”

“How then can it be fair to allow one to erase the hard work of these women? In the effort to be ‘inclusive’ of transgender people we’ve begun the process of totally excluding women from their opportunity to succeed in athletics,” he added.

The student said that he understood the university’s perspective from a political standpoint, noting that he believes the college wants to ensure that there are no social consequences for transgender students who chose to transition. However, he noted that women of the swim team are receiving the short end of the stick as a result of that decision.

“While this makes sense given the political climate of catering to transgender individuals, it is so morally depraved that I have trouble believing that nobody within the administration has had the decency to stop this,” he said.

A third student, who studies marketing, told the publication that allowing Thomas to compete alongside female athletes was inherently unfair, as all of them had vied for a spot on the highly competitive team.

The student, who is female, described a hostile environment for students who share her opinion on the issue.

“Groups on campus are quick to short the discussion and label any opposition as ‘transphobic’ and silence their response. Amidst the fear and hostility, only the loudest, leftist voices get heard, not the most reasonable,” she said.

“Penn’s political environment has shown nothing but hostility toward those who question their liberal, elitist agenda. With that in mind, I would not feel particularly comfortable publicly voicing my view on this issue,” said a fourth student, who is studying nursing at the college.

“I am not surprised at all that Penn’s administration has allowed this to continue given their clear desire to force their radical agenda on as many people as possible.”

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