Anti-LGBTQ Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) has released a proclamation declaring University of Virginia swimmer Emma Weyant the “rightful winner” of the NCAA 500-yard women’s freestyle swimming championship after she lost to trans superstar Lia Thomas.
Weyant is originally from Sarasota, Florida, which is why DeSantis took it upon himself to make this transphobic proclamation. In it, he referred to Thomas as “a male identifying as a woman” and said trans women are responsible for “robbing women and girls of achievements, awards, and scholarships.”
Related: Miami paper says DeSantis should stop attacking LGBTQ kids & focus on Florida’s real problems
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DeSantis also stated, “Florida rejects the NCAA’s efforts to destroy women’s athletics, disapproves of the NCAA elevating ideology over biology, and takes offense at the NCAA trying to make others complicit in a lie.”
By allowing men to compete in women's sports, the NCAA is destroying opportunities for women, making a mockery of its championships, and perpetuating a fraud.
In Florida, we reject these lies and recognize Sarasota's Emma Weyant as the best women's swimmer in the 500y freestyle. pic.twitter.com/tBmFxFE3q6
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) March 22, 2022
Last week, Thomas, who swims for the University of Pennsylvania, became the first out transgender person to win an NCAA Division I national championship, four minutes, 33.24 seconds, she was 1.75 seconds ahead of Weyant.
Outside the arena, anti-trans protesters from a group called “Save Women’s Sports” chanted and held signs to oppose Thomas’s participation on the women’s team.
DeSantis has positioned himself as staunchly anti-trans and anti-LGBTQ. He has indicated he will soon sign Florida’s discriminatory “Don’t Say Gay” bill, and in a recent conspiratorial rant, he declared that Florida won’t allow anyone to “inject transgenderism into kindergarten.”
“First graders shouldn’t have woke gender ideology in their curriculums. And that’s what we’re standing for,” DeSantis said.
Last year, DeSantis signed an anti-trans sports bill into law on the first day of Pride month.
