Lia Thomas sues to be allowed to try out for US Olympic Team

[Dan the Roman]

Here is my impression of why the situation is a bit of an outlier.

There are some things HRT changes, and they are greater earlier on, but one of the things it doesn't is Height. And height matters a lot in swimming.

 The issue with Lia Thomas is not that they transitioned. It was that they were above 6ft before doing so, and no matter what HRT did to muscle mass, that height was going to remain. Post-transition they are either 6' 1 or 6 4' with the lower one still taller than 99.99% of  biological women.

[Dan the Roman]

Post-transition they are either 6' 1 or 6 4' with the lower one still taller than 99.99% of  biological women.

I find it hard to believe that there are fewer women taller than 185cm than there are women of any height in all of Birmingham, England.

Census disagrees.

https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/2010/compendia/statab/130ed/tables/11s0205.pdf

[Dan the Roman]

Okay then, ban Lia Thomas because she's 6 ft tall, that's fair enough. Just apply it consistently.

The argument is whether a mediocre male will beat top women despite HRT. Height is an advantage that is not going be erased and will leave a male in the top 15% ahead of biological women in outside the top .1%.

Now whether that is a reason on its own to ban Trans participation is a different matter. But the claims that HRT somehow erases biological advantages in swimming for any given individual is baseless and absurd.

A biological male who is 5'5 and transitions will not raise those issues for the same reason a biological female who transitions to male will rarely raise them. Because sports is based on actual laws of physics, not a desire for a specific morality. And frankly as its a competition, it only matters insofar as it effects the competition.