Former Lia Thomas teammate calls out Democrats still fighting for trans athletes in women's sports

EXCLUSIVE: Former University of Pennsylvania swimmer Grace Estabrook was 1 of the many young women who shared a excavation and locker country with transgender swimmer Lia Thomas successful the 2021-22 season. 

From 2019, erstwhile she was archetypal told Thomas would beryllium joining her team, until her elder twelvemonth successful 2022, Estabrook alleged she was repeatedly pressured by the assemblage not to reason Thomas' inclusion connected the team. Estabrook told Fox News Digital that administrators tried to person her that she would ne'er get a occupation oregon get into grad schoolhouse if she spoke retired against it and that immoderate contented she had with the concern was due to the fact that she had a "psychological problem." 

And successful betwixt the practices and meets that made her consciousness "uncomfortable" and "powerless," Estabrook says she besides witnessed the mainstream media observe Thomas arsenic a civilian rights icon and adjacent beryllium nominated for the NCAA Woman of the Year award. 

But now, successful 2025, Estabrook is 1 of 3 erstwhile UPenn swimmers who person filed a suit against the university, the Ivy League and the NCAA implicit its handling of the concern arsenic the tides connected the contented crook successful the tribunal of nationalist opinion.

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Penn's Lia Thomas waits to aquatics successful a qualifying vigor of the 200-yard freestyle astatine the Ivy League Women's Swimming and Diving Championships astatine Harvard University, Feb. 18, 2022, successful Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Mary Schwalm)

Fox News Digital reached retired to UPenn for comment.

Recent data suggests the immense bulk of Americans present reason trans athletes successful women's sports. The NCAA precocious changed its argumentation to forestall them from competing successful the women's class aft President Donald Trump signed an enforcement bid to code the contented past Wednesday. 

Still, galore Democrats continue to combat for trans inclusion successful women's and girls' sports, and aggregate states person not complied with Trump's order. 

For Estabrook, who says she lived done the acquisition of changing her apparel with Thomas successful the country and being threatened not to kick astir it, the thought of elected officials inactive warring for a origin that ensures different women acquisition what she did is "depressing." 

"That's conscionable truly depressing," Estabrook said. "I conscionable don't cognize wherefore anyone would privation to perpetuate maltreatment to women connected ample scales similar this. I deliberation that's wherefore we are doing what we're doing. It's due to the fact that we privation a wide tribunal determination that volition assistance institutions beryllium capable to acceptable wide policies to marque definite this ne'er happens again. We privation that enduring ineligible precedent. … It's depressing, but that's wherefore we're doing what we're doing."

Estabrook's travel passim the concern with UPenn has featured predominant "depressing" moments. 

Her locker was lone a fewer feet distant from Thomas successful the locker room, forcing her to backmost herself into a country for the involvement of her ain comfort.

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"I would benignant of backmost into a country that had debased visibility and conscionable effort to alteration arsenic rapidly arsenic I could, and I had different teammates who would spell into the bath stalls and alteration successful there," Estabrook said.

"We were the ones that were forced into hiding, it was precise uncomfortable, and determination was conscionable this changeless fearfulness and disruption of bid of like, 'OK, I conscionable don't person a harmless situation present anymore,' not lone physically but emotionally and psychologically, and it was conscionable incredibly stressful. I look backmost connected it and I don't cognize however I endured that." 

Estabrook added that the concern enactment "incredible" accent connected some her caput and body, and it disrupted her swimming ability. 

The affirmative media sum of Thomas was the insulting cherry connected apical of the concern for Estabrook. She said that galore times erstwhile she and her teammates traveled to a meet, they not lone had to woody with the anxiousness of Thomas successful their abstraction but besides a horde of reporters determination to screen the trans jock successful a affirmative light.

"I conscionable retrieve feeling, ‘This is truthful alien,’" Estabrook said. "It conscionable felt similar it was this full solemnisation of Thomas and the full transgender ideology movement." 

"All of the media I retrieve seeing oregon speechmaking astatine the clip was celebrating Thomas arsenic this groundbreaking figurehead of the transgender assemblage … determination was conscionable specified a solemnisation of it that it was truly pushed successful our faces and forcing america to judge it."

Estabrook said the hardest infinitesimal of the acquisition came astatine the 2022 Ivy League championships. She hoped that Thomas would beryllium ruled ineligible to participate. However, the Ivy League allowed Thomas to swim. Thomas yet acceptable excavation records successful each idiosyncratic lawsuit the jock competed successful and topped the victor's podium 4 times.

Thomas went connected to enactment up a akin show astatine the 2022 NCAA championships. There, Thomas ended up successful an infamous necktie with erstwhile University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines. That necktie yet sparked the seeds for alteration that gave Estabrook and countless different women anticipation erstwhile the acquisition prompted Gaines to talk up and go a salient advocator for women's athletes seeking extortion from trans inclusion. 

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Former UPenn swimmer Grace Estabrook (Grace Estabrook)

"I was conscionable truthful grateful for her bravery," Estabrook said. "I truly bash consciousness empowered by the enactment that Riley Gaines has been doing and seeing women leap connected that aforesaid bid and commencement to talk out. … It empowered maine to beryllium capable to bash the same."

More anticipation came this past twelvemonth aft Trump pledged during a Fox News municipality hallway interrogation successful October that, if elected, helium would prohibition trans athletes successful women's sports. Trump won the election, and exit polls suggested the contented of trans inclusion played a salient relation successful the determination of galore mean voters. 

Trump rapidly made bully connected his promise, signing the "No Men successful Women’s Sports" enforcement bid past Wednesday. For Estabrook, seeing this travel to fruition has gone a agelong mode successful affirming her governmental beliefs. 

"I was precise excited to perceive that and adjacent much excited erstwhile that became a world past week truthful rapidly aft helium took office," Estabrook said. "It's conscionable precise encouraging to spot that we person a president who is conscionable truthful supportive of america and is besides seeing this successful accordance with reality." 

Estabrook's lawsuit, which has been filed alongside erstwhile teammates Ellen Holmquist and Margot Kaczorowski, seeks to person each of Thomas' records and accolades arsenic a pistillate swimmer revoked.

In summation to Estabrook's lawsuit, Trump's Department of Education has launched an investigation into imaginable Title IX violations that occurred astatine UPenn and has besides advised the NCAA to discard Thomas' accolades successful the women's category.

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