League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast
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Nancy Hogshead-Makar is a triple gold medalist in swimming at the 1984 Olympics as well as a civil rights attorney and CEO of Champion Women, a nonprofit providing legal advocacy for girls and women in sports.
On June 23, 2022, we will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of Title IX, the landmark federal civil rights legislation which prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or other education program that receives funding from the federal government. We’ll talk about the progress female athletes have made since Title IX’s passage but also the hurdles that remain before we arrive at true equal opportunity for both genders in sports in the United States. We then move into a provocative discussion about the controversy surrounding transgender female swimmer Lia Thomas. Thomas has made the transition from biological male to transgender female and is a member of the University of Pennsylvania’s women’s swimming team.
Since making her transition, Thomas has dominated women’s swimming events. Some of her teammates have complained that she has unfair physical advantages — derived from going through male puberty — and that she’s taking a roster spot for Ivy League and NCAA swim meets that should go to a biological female. The issue has spurred passionate debate on both sides. We talk with Nancy about the need for everyone involved to act in good will in order to find a “middle way” solution that is both fair and inclusive.
The League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast can be found wherever you get your podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Anchor and others.
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— Editor
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