UPenn to apologize to every woman 'forced to compete against a man' after Lia Thomas trans saga

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The University of Pennsylvania will issue formal apologies to female athletes who were forced to compete against men, says U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon.

“The university will be sending a personal apology to every female athlete who was forced to compete against a man,” said McMahon, who made the revelation after an investigation by her department’s Office for Civil Rights..

The probe found that the school violated Title IX by “allowing a male to compete in female athletic programs and occupy female-only intimate facilities.”

Transgender swimming champion Lia Thomas will also be stripped of the swimming titles won while attending UPenn as the athlete’s alma mater buckles to the Trump administration, the New York Post reported.

McMahon called it a victory for women and girls.

“The department commends UPenn for rectifying its past harms against women and girls, and we will continue to fight relentlessly to restore Title IX’s proper application and enforce it to the fullest extent of the law,” she said in a statement.

Aside from the apologies, UPenn must also announce that it “will not allow males to compete in female athletic programs” and it must adopt “biology-based” definitions of male and female, the department said.

It’s part of the Trump administration’s broader attempt to remove transgender athletes from girls’ and women’s sports.

The decision was applauded by advocates and athletes who were impacted by the inclusion of trans athletes in women’s sports in recent years, including University of Kentucky alum Riley Gaines, who garnered fame for competing — and coming up short — to Thomas during their NCAA meets.

“UPenn has agreed to right its wrongs, restore records to the rightful female athletes, and issue an apology to the women impacted by the man they allowed to compete as a woman,” Gaines wrote on X.

“Are pigs flying?” she asked before adding, “God bless, @realDonaldTrump.”

Former collegiate athlete Paula Scanlan said in a statement via WPDE: “As a former UPenn swimmer who had to compete against and share a locker room with a male athlete, I am deeply grateful to the Trump ddministration for refusing to back down on protecting women and girls and restoring our rightful accolades.”

She added: “I am also pleased that my alma mater has finally agreed to take not only the lawful path, but the honuorable one.”

McMahon expanded on what is arguably the Trump administration’s arguably biggest move in removing trans athletes in women’s sports, and told Fox News that she hopes it sends a message to females in high school and colleges across the country.

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“I think those girls, hopefully, they will look at Riley and Paula and others as real role models and give them the strength to stand up,” McMahon said.

The Department of Education still have an active lawsuit against the state of Maine for refusing to comply with Trump’s mandate on the issue, and is at a crossroads with California and Minnesota as well as other states that have defied Trump.

“Our sincere hope is that they absolutely recognize what they’re going to have to do relative to comply with Title IX. It is the law,” McMahon told the network.

“There are federal funds that have been withheld and withdrawn, so there’s penalties involved in this,” she warned.

“But it’s actually just the right thing to do, it’s common sense to do, that men should not compete in women’s sports.”