Ex-Harvard swimmer who lost to Lia Thomas last year tears into the Biden administration for trying to use trans sports debate as 'their civil rights movement' at the expense of athletes
Abby Carr accused the Biden administration of using the transgender sports debate as its 'civil rights movement.' Carr competed and lost against transgender swimmer Lia Thomas in 2022
By Andrea Cavallier
June 25, 2023
Former Harvard swimmer Abby Carr slammed the Biden administration for using the debate of transgender athletes as 'their civil rights moment' at the expense of female athletes
A former Harvard swimmer has slammed the Biden administration for using the trans athletes debate as 'their civil rights moment' at the expense of female athletes.
Abby Carr said they think it is going to save transgender sports, but argued it is 'discriminating against women.'
The former Harvard athlete, who competed and lost against trans athlete Lia Thomas last year, shared her thoughts on the ongoing debate on Fox Business 'Varney&Co.'
Thomas sparked controversy at the 2022 NCAA Championships by becoming the first ever transgender winner.
'I think the Biden administration, quite frankly, is trying to have their civil rights moment,' she said. 'They're trying to make this their civil rights activism purpose is they're going to save transgender sports. However, they're doing that by discriminating against women.'
Carr is just one of many female athletes, including former University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines, who are speaking up about the debate over transgender athletes in women's sports.
Lia Thomas (pictured) sparked controversy at the 2022 NCAA Championships by becoming the first ever transgender winner. She beat Carr's team - which included Riley Gaines (right)
'What unfortunately should just be a blunt scientific reality determining an athletic issue has become so far politicized that we can't even have a rational conversation about it,' Carr said.
Carr went on to call out the administration for 'pushing aside real-life stories from female athletes' and 'not protecting women.'
'It's interesting watching the Biden administration push aside these narratives, these real-life stories from female athletes like Riley Gaines and others that we're seeing now all over the country,' Carr said. 'They clearly are not protecting women's sports.'
'I spoke about it a few weeks ago, and I said something to the effect of my you know, my journey in athletics has been far-reaching and formative, but I should not have to race biological males. I'll even use the terminology that the left wants – assigned male at birth. I should not have to raise someone in that capacity because it is simply not fair. And yet it's become so politicized that we can't even have these conversations open and honestly.'
Carr also talked about how her team - which included Gaines - competed and lost against Thomas at the 2022 NCAA Championships.
'My team raced against Thomas [in] 2022 and she won. She won pretty much everything she swam,' Carr said. 'At the time, we were advised to stay quiet just to focus on our own races, really just to focus on winning our own Ivy Championship.'
'In reflection, this was quite out of line. Thomas clearly had the biological advantage in every race she competed in.'
Thomas has become outspoken about letting transgender athletes compete in sports
One of Thomas' biggest critics is former University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines
Thomas, who competed for the University of Pennsylvania men's swim team before beginning her transition, spoke about her decision to become a trans woman.
She said she had always loved to swim and began swimming competitively at the age of 5. But when she realized she was transgender before her freshman year of college, she said, 'My relationship with water changed.'
She said she felt uncomfortable about having her body 'out for the world to see,' and she felt she was trapped in a 'very dark and unpleasant place' before she decided to take hormones.
One of Thomas' biggest critics is former University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines, who recently asked her fellow competitor if it broke her heart to see women lose opportunities to transgender women.
Gaines also called Thomas 'selfish and said she had showed 'utter disregard for women' after the transgender swimmer, who competed as a male for three years, begged Biden to protect trans-athletes in sports.
Gaines tweeted: 'This take is selfish and shows an utter disregard for women. The Biden Administration is actively and aggressively working to pass laws that erase decent and fair treatment for women in sports.'
The bill, which is an amendment to Title IX - the federal civil rights law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex - would prohibit states from enacting blanket bans on transgender athletes competing against their non-biological sex in grades K-8.
It would not, however, prevent those sorts of bans against older trans athletes who are in high school and college.
1 comment:
Biden knows which way the wind is blowing. Right now the people who support the idea of limiting women's sports to women are not going to vote for him anyway.
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