Penn swimmer Lia Thomas offered a simple explanation for why she belongs on the women's team

• Lia Thomas has faced pushback and media scrutiny for competing on Penn's women's swim team.
• In a Sports Illustrated feature, the trans athlete explained why she belongs on the women's side.

Lia Thomas — a college senior who has been at the center of the debate on transgender participation in women's sports — has no doubt that competing as a member of the University of Pennsylvania's women's swimming team is where she belongs.

And in a recent Sports Illustrated feature written by Robert Sanchez, she offered a remarkably straightforward explanation for anyone who's confused as to why she's competing on — and dominating — the women's side.

"The very simple answer is that I'm not a man," Thomas said. "I'm a woman, so I belong on the women's team."

"Trans people deserve that same respect every other athlete gets," she added.

Many of those pushing back on Thomas' participation in women's athletics — including one anonymous parent of a Penn swimmer — believe that she deserves to be treated with "respect and dignity," just as any other woman should be.

"But it's not transphobic to say I disagree with where she's swimming," the self-described progressive parent added.

Thomas doesn't buy that logic. To her, there are two clear-cut options, as Sanchez explained in his piece; "Either you back her fully as a woman or you don't."

"I'm a woman, just like anybody else on the team," Thomas said. "I've always viewed myself as just a swimmer. It's what I've done for so long; it's what I love."

The 22-year-old is set to compete alongside two Quakers teammates at the NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships in Georgia March 16-19. Thomas will race in the 100-, 200-, and 500-meter free — all three events in which she won the Ivy League championship — with a chance to break longstanding records and make history.