Roanoke female swimmers win cheers from Youngkin for opposing biological male on team

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin congratulated the Roanoke College female swimmers for successfully resisting the college’s decision to let a male-born athlete compete on the women’s team based on gender identity.

“In Virginia, we are committed to fairness in women’s sports,” the Republican governor posted on the social-media site X. “I stand with the Roanoke College Swimmers in their efforts to seek an even playing field. Their request is reasonable, it’s common sense.”

His comments came after the college in Salem, Virginia, announced that, despite its earlier approval, the male-born swimmer had withdrawn from the team.

But the female swimmers made it clear Thursday that they want legal protection.

Ten team members held a press conference calling for the NCAA and the Virginia state legislature to approve policies that protect fairness in women’s sports as biological males increasingly make their way into the field.

Roanoke swimmer Lily Mullens said she lost sleep and felt “emotionally blackmailed” by school officials after being told about the transgender swimmer, who competed on the Roanoke men’s swimming team before transitioning.

“I questioned my purpose for swimming, a sport that I’ve competed in for 15 years now,” Ms. Mullens said. “The reason why I spent all that time in the water became unclear. Why would I even try to swim if I was going to have to race against a biological man?”

The Division III swimmers were joined by 12-time All-American Riley Gaines, former University of Pennsylvania swimmer Paula Scanlan, and political women’s groups, including the Independent Women’s Forum and the Independent Council on Women’s Sports.

Ms. Gaines said politicians, universities and other institutions are sending harmful messages to female athletes, including that “we simply exist to validate the feelings and identity of males.”

They also send “a message that says if we don’t do so with a big smile on our face, then we’re hateful bigots,” Ms. Gaines said. “The burden should not be placed on female athletes to convince their schools to accept the scientific reality, but that’s where it is being placed.”

Also backing the students were their parents, including Lily’s mother Katie Mullens, who said that families expect athletics to teach their girls important lessons about time management, hard work, and how to win with humility and lose with dignity.

“Never in our wildest dreams did we ever imagine swimming and sports would teach those girls to be quiet; that they would have to compete with men, and to stifle all their excitement and all their hopes and dreams for the benefit of a man,” she said.

In Virginia, we are committed to fairness in women’s sports. I stand with the Roanoke College Swimmers in their efforts to seek an even playing field. Their request is reasonable, it’s common sense. https://t.co/QDUwuL9KnW

— Governor Glenn Youngkin (@GovernorVA) October 5, 2023

Shortly after the press conference, Roanoke College issued a statement saying that the transgender swimmer withdrew from the team ahead of a Tuesday meeting of the Board of Trustees.

The college also said that it has tried to follow the NCAA’s 2022 policy, which calls for “transgender student-athlete participation for each sport to be determined by the policy for the national governing body of that sport.”

“However, the NCAA also opted for a multi-year phase-in process to the above policy, which has created confusing and contradictory guidance for schools to navigate – particularly since the NCAA has already extended the phase-in process,” the Roanoke statement said. “This confusion puts student-athletes, coaches and college leaders in a difficult and uncertain position.”

The board decided to skip the phase-in process and defer immediately to the national governing bodies for each sport.

For swimming, that means USA Swimming, which tightened up its transgender policy last year by requiring male-born athletes to keep their testosterone in serum level below 5 nanomoles/Liter for 36 months before competing.

They must also provide evidence that going through male puberty did not give them a competitive advantage.

“In making this decision, the focus of senior administration and the board of trustees was on maintaining fairness in competition and protecting the integrity of all athletics at Roanoke College,” Roanoke College President Frank Shushok Jr. said. “We remain committed to supporting our LGBTQ+ community and our student-athletes, all of whom are valued members of our vibrant community.”

Marshi Smith, co-founder of ICONS Women and a former University of Arizona swimmer, condemned the Virginia legislature for failing to pass a Fairness in Women’s Sports bill in the previous session.

The Republican-led House passed the bill in February, but Senate Democrats killed the bill in committee.

Ms. Smith, who testified in favor of the bill, said that legislators “needed to see women and girls in Virginia harmed before they would consider protecting them.”

“Well, these women have now [borne] the brunt of the harms that legislators demanded that they endure before they were willing to act,” Ms. Smith said. “They have now stood on a stage in front of the world and told you about the emotional damage done to them. Is this enough? Will you act now?”