The University of Pennsylvania has agreed to ban transgender women from competing on its women’s sports teams, bringing an end to a federal civil rights investigation centered on former swimmer Lia Thomas.
The U.S. Department of Education announced the voluntary resolution on Tuesday, stating that the university violated Title IX — the 1972 law prohibiting sex-based discrimination in federally funded education programs — by allowing Thomas, a transgender woman, to compete in women’s collegiate swimming.
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Lia Thomas made headlines in 2022 as the first openly transgender athlete to win a Division I national title, sparking widespread debate over fairness in women’s sports.
As part of the agreement, Penn will:
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Ban transgender women from women’s sports teams moving forward
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Restore all individual Division I swimming records and titles to female athletes who lost to Thomas
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Send personalized apology letters to those athletes
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Publicly affirm that it will not allow males to compete in female athletic programs
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Adopt biology-based definitions of male and female
While it remains unclear whether Thomas will be formally stripped of her personal awards and honors, the school is required to update its athletic records accordingly.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon called the agreement a major win for female athletes:
“The Department commends UPenn for rectifying its past harms against women and girls. We will continue to fight relentlessly to restore Title IX’s proper application and enforce it to the fullest extent of the law.”
The case is one of the highest-profile efforts in the Trump administration’s broader push to bar transgender athletes from participating in girls’ and women’s sports categories.
The Education Department first launched its investigation in February and concluded in April that Penn had violated federal law. Had the school refused the agreement, the department could have escalated the matter to the Justice Department or sought to cut federal funding.
Back in February, the department also urged the NCAA and the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFSHSA) to reinstate awards and records they say were “misappropriated by biological males competing in female categories.” The NCAA has yet to respond to the request.
While precedent exists for updating NCAA record books in cases of rule violations, retroactively identifying and adjusting for transgender participation could pose significant logistical challenges.
