(WATCH) ‘Don’t Let Anyone Silence You’: Female College Athlete Urges Penn Swimmers To Speak Out Against Transgender Competition (VIDEO)

One female track athlete spoke out on Thursday in the wake of the controversy surrounding Lia Thomas, a biological male and self-described transgender woman who competes for the University of Pennsylvania women’s swimming team and who has dominated women’s swimming competitions. She urged the other women on the Penn swimming team to come forward and join her in condemning biological males competing against women in sports.

Madison Kenyon, a member of the Idaho State track and cross country team who is majoring in biomedicine and has been named to the dean’s list in both 2019 and 2021, stated on Fox News, “I just kind of want to say to the female athletes in Pennsylvania, don’t let anyone silence you. Speak up. Tell the NCAA your athletic directors and your coaches that you want fair competition, because doing this is nowhere near as scary as it seems. And the amount of support is overwhelming.”

“I should say that while Lia Thomas hasn’t had gender-affirming surgery, he did have a year’s worth of, I believe, hormonal treatment, which is what the NCAA requires in many situations”, Fox News anchor Will Cain said. “But Madison, it doesn’t change the biological fact that he’s a man. He went through puberty as a man, he has muscle structure, and everything through 22 years of his life as a man and Madison, you’ve competed against this exact situation in track you’ve competed against transgender athletes. … Would you tell us tell all of us watching right now? What is it like to go into a competition against a transgender athlete when you know, the outcome ahead of time?”

“Yeah, it’s extremely deflating,” Kenyon said in response. “I’ve experienced it five times. And each time I lost to a biological male. And the fact that that’s still happening, that women are still losing to biological males, in their own sport shows why we need more female athletes to speak up about this. And so I just kind of want to say to the female athletes in Pennsylvania, don’t let anyone silence you. Speak up. Tell the NCAA your athletic directors and your coaches that you want fair competition, because doing this is nowhere near as scary as it seems. And the amount of support is overwhelming.”

Cain then asked Kenyon’s attorney Kristen Waggoner, “I mentioned what the NCAA rules are about hormonal treatment. And, you know, different states at the high school level have different laws. What should the laws be when it comes to this?”

“They’re simple,” Waggoner responded. “The law should be the biological women compete against biological women and the NCAA policy doesn’t require the University of Pennsylvania to deny a fair playing field to women. It doesn’t require that at all. In fact, what it’s doing is prioritizing activists over women athletes, and by denying them a fair playing field, they’re refusing again to recognize legitimate biological distinctions, and that hurts women and girls the most.”

Cain responded, “I think many are guided by empathy, but they’re prioritizing empathizing with one individual over the hundreds, the thousands of Madisons out there that have trained their entire lives. Very selective in where you apply your empathy, and by the way, it’s the end of women’s sports.”

As part of their support for Idaho’s Fairness in Women’s Sports Act earlier this year, Kenyon and teammate Mary Kate Marshall were represented by Alliance Defending Freedom, which was challenged in Hecox v. Little before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. ADF made the following observation:

The oral arguments concern a district court order which temporarily halted enforcement of the law. The district court’s hold on the law means female athletes must compete against males who identify as female while the lawsuit proceeds. ADF attorneys are asking the 9th Circuit to reverse the district court’s order, and so are numerous female athletes, medical professionals, feminist groups, and 14 states that filed friend-of-the-court briefs.

Kenyon’s statement in April 2021 in regards to the case, “As a cross-country runner for Idaho State University, I’ve been forced to compete repeatedly against a male athlete—and lost each and every race. Losing unfairly to someone who has natural advantages is frustrating and unmotivating, not just for me, but for my teammates as well. Idaho’s law protects my athletic future, the same way Title IX provided athletic futures for the female athletes who paved the way before me. I joined this lawsuit because I knew I had an opportunity to be a voice for girls and women in sports today and in the future.”

Stay tuned to The Scoop for any updates.