The University of Pennsylvania has agreed not to allow males who identify as female athletes in women’s sports, according to Department of Education (DOE) Secretary Linda McMahon.
“Not only that, the university will be sending a personal apology to every female athlete who was forced to compete against a man. They will also be removing all records set by a man in a women’s sports competition,” McMahon said in a speech on July 1.
UPenn’s compliance with federal law means records set by swimmer Lia Thomas, a male athlete who identifies as female, are to be erased.
McMahon said UPenn has agreed to change its athletics policy “to ensure that no female athlete will ever compete against, or suffer the indignity of being forced to share an intimate facility with, a biological male.”
“This is a major accomplishment and a milestone in our fight to restore sanity, fairness, and integrity to women’s sports,” she said. “The idea of keeping men out of women’s sports is a simple one. It’s based in common sense. But the fight to achieve this victory has not been easy or simple.”
UPenn President J. Larry Jameson issued a statement on July 1 announcing the university and U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (OCR) resolved a February 2025 investigation into the university’s compliance with Title IX for women’s athletics on June 30.
“This is a complex issue, and I am pleased that we were able to reach a resolution through the standard OCR process for concluding Title IX investigations,” Jameson said in the statement.
“Our commitment to ensuring a respectful and welcoming environment for all of our students is unwavering,” he said. “At the same time, we must comply with federal requirements, including executive orders, and NCAA eligibility rules, so our teams and student-athletes may engage in competitive intercollegiate sports.”
Jameson said the university has never maintained a policy of its own regarding transgender-identifying athletes in intercollegiate sports.
“We adhere to NCAA and Ivy League rules that are designed to ensure fair and transparent athletic competitions for all schools and participants,” he said.
The University signed resolution with DOE and agreed to release a public statement promising to comply with President Donald Trump’s executive orders, “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government” issued on Jan. 20 and “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” signed Feb. 5.
“The University will not—on the basis of sex—exclude female students from participation in, deny female students the benefits of, or subject female students to discrimination under, any athletics programs,” the statement reads. “In addition, in providing to female student-athletes intimate facilities such as locker rooms and bathrooms in connection with Penn Athletics, such facilities shall be strictly separated on the basis of sex and comparably provided to each sex.”
The university acknowledged that although its policies during the 2021-2022 swim season were in accordance with NCAA eligibility rules at the time “some student-athletes were disadvantaged by these rules.”
“We recognize this and will apologize to those who experienced a competitive disadvantage or experienced anxiety because of the policies in effect at the time,” he said in the statement. “We will review and update the Penn women’s swimming records set during that season to indicate who would now hold the records under current eligibility guidelines.”
McMahon said the Trump administration was clear in telling UPenn “that allowing men to claim they are women, so they can invade women’s locker rooms and compete against them in sports, was neither fair nor safe.”
Riley Gaines, a six-time record setter at the University of Kentucky and three-time National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championship and U.S. Olympic qualifier, competed against Thomas in the 200-meter freestyle in the NCAA Women’s Championship competition in 2022.
Even though the two tied for fifth place, Gaines claims an NCAA official told her he had been advised that when photos were being taken, it was crucial that the transgender-identifying swimmer hold the trophy, not her.
Gaines claims she was allowed to pose with the trophy but was told it would be given to Thomas.
McMahon acknowledged Gaines and Paula Scanlan, who she said have worked hard on behalf of the female athletes who will come after them.
“So it’s appropriate that today’s announcement is a Resolution Agreement on Title IX and women’s rights with the University of Pennsylvania, where Paula and Riley’s fight began,” McMahon said.
Imagine that…
Unfortunate that it took that long to wake up. Even more unfortunate that it ever happened to begin with.
For years I warned the women I knew that fake manufactured equality without recognizing the special DIFFERENCES god created in males and females would end up in getting a lot of women injured in sports and/or killed in warfare. Be careful what you ask for. When it comes to gender, Love of separate same is just another reflection of love of SELF, which is the beginning of all failed social experiments that defy the Creator’s design. The differences between men and women should be celebrated, not extinguished or ignored because when ignored or improperly expressed, the synergistic coming together of a man and a woman in the correct arena, at the individual and collective level is designed to make the whole greater than the sum of its individual parts. In the incorrect arena of political manipulation, it soon becomes a disaster.
AND one wonders, WOULD THIS have happened had trump NOT threatened them with loss of federal dollars?!
Males pretending to be females ARE NOT females! They are either sexually deranged males or males just taking advantage of the Democrat Party’s perverted interpolation of equal rights.
“Not only that, the university will be sending a personal apology to every female athlete who was forced to compete against a man. They will also be removing all records set by a man in a women’s sports competition,”
Will those who loss out, be given any FINANCIAL COMPENSATION that they otherwise would have likely gotten, FROM THOSE victories, they were denied!?
There is no man that I know that would be caught dead competing against a female in any sport.
These ‘people’ need serious psychiatric help, not a bra and panties.
“We recognize this and will apologize to those who experienced a competitive disadvantage or experienced anxiety because of the policies in effect at the time,”
And what about loss of financial opportunities, such as sponsorships, that might have been offered ~4 years ago, but certainly won’t be today?
UPenn has hereby shown itself, as an institution, to be a cowardly follower of popular fad, rather than a principled defender of Truth.
Heck, not even scholarships or sponsorships. BUT what of being called up by professional teams? That never happened because of their ‘loss’ to these he/shes.