12:22 PM PT — Former Olympic swimmer Donna de Varona joined Harvey and Charles on “TMZ Live” on Wednesday to talk about Lia Thomas‘ remarks … and she said, in her opinion, there should be different categories for transgender athletes and biological females.
TMZSports.com
She compared the situation to sports like boxing and rowing — which have weight classes — telling the guys, “Sports is about fairness and rules, and it’s about categories.”
“Categories have opened up opportunities,” the two-time Olympic gold medalist and women’s rights activist said. “Let’s acknowledge that the world of sport has bent over backwards to try to accommodate everybody, but in line with fairness and opportunity.”
Lia Thomas — the first transgender athlete to win an NCAA Division I championship — is firing back at her critics … saying a lot of them are simply transphobes who are “using the guise of feminism” to hide their true, hateful beliefs.
Thomas opened up about her detractors in a lengthy interview this week with Schuyler Bailar — the NCAA’s first trans swimmer — and she said it’s just not possible to claim to be a feminist but to also not support her when it comes to competing against biological females.
“They’re like, ‘We respect Lia as a woman, as a trans woman, whatever, we respect her identity, we just don’t think it’s fair,'” the former collegiate swimmer said on the “Dear Schuyler” podcast.
