A USA Swimming official resigned in protest of transgender swimmer Lia Thomas, saying she can’t back a sport that allows “biological men” to compete alongside women.
Cynthia Millen, who had officiated USA Swimming meets for three decades, stepped down ahead of last week’s U.S. Paralympics Swimming National Championships in Greensboro, N.C.
“I can’t do this,” Millen wrote in her resignation letter, the Washington Examiner reported Thursday. “I can’t support this.”
Millen is now hoping others in the sport will agree that Thomas, 22, has an unfair advantage over female competitors after coming out as transgender in 2019 following three years on the men’s team at the University of Pennsylvania.
Thomas has since smashed several Penn records this season — with one teammate finishing in second place in the 1,650-meter freestyle some 38 second behind her.
“I told my fellow officials that I can no longer participate in a sport that allows biological men to compete against women,” Millen’s letter continued. “Everything fair about swimming is being destroyed.”
Millen said she would deem Thomas ineligible to compete if she were officiating a meet and called on her now-former colleagues to do the same.
“This is not right because by doing this, we’re supporting this,” Millen wrote. “There are no swim meets if there are no officials.”
USA Swimming released a statement in response to Millen’s comments, stating that Thomas was last registered as an athlete member of the organization in 2019.
“Her current participation in NCAA competition is based on NCAA established criteria for participation,” USA Swimming said.
“Therefore, Ms. Millen is not refusing to officiate USA Swimming events as Lia does not swim in our events, and we do not have purview over the NCAA events.
“Ms. Millen is one of 13,000 officials across the country who volunteer their time to officiating swimming events.”
Thomas, meanwhile, has said she’s taking an ongoing regimen of estrogen and testosterone blockers. She is eligible under NCAA rules to swim in women’s collegiate events after taking one year of testosterone suppressants.
“I just don’t engage with it,” Thomas said earlier this month of the widespread backlash regarding her performance. “It’s not healthy for me to read it and engage with it at all, and so I don’t, and that’s all I’ll say on that.”
Some of the “pushback” was expected, Thomas admitted.
Millen doubled-down on her criticism of Thomas, telling Fox News allowing her to swim with women makes for unfair competition.
“Bodies swim against bodies,” Millen said. “Gender identities don’t swim.”
Men swim up to 12 percent faster than their female counterparts and have a greater lung capacity, the veteran swimming official said.
Thomas’ times in the water are now approaching records set by all-time Olympic greats like Katie Ledecky and Missy Franklin, Millen said.
“And nothing that Lia did by taking a year off to take testosterone suppression drugs — that does not change Lia’s body,” Millen said.
“This is grossly unfair.”