TAMPA, Fla — The battle over a historic NCAA win by a transgender woman continues.
Gov. Ron DeSantis declared Sarasota Native Emma Weyant the winner of the women's 500-meter freestyle swim, even though she came in second place. First place went to Lia Thomas.
"That takes grit, that takes determination and she's been an absolute superstar and she had the fastest time of any woman in college athletics," DeSantis said during a press conference in Wesley Chapel Tuesday.
The governor argues the NCAA's rules that allow transgender athletes to compete are unfair to athletes who were assigned female at birth.
"They are putting ideology ahead of opportunity for women athletes and I think that there's just some people that are afraid to speak out and save what they're doing but that is what they're doing it," DeSantis said.
The governor's proclamation doesn't change the outcome, but those that are transgender athletes say his words can still hurt their community.
"It hurts everybody within the state of Florida who is transgender and wants to come out," Zak Worms said.
Worms is a transgender athlete herself. She's played soccer her whole life, but stopped a year ago when she came out as transgender while playing for the Tallahassee Soccer Club. She's now taking hormones and transitioning.
"It's not a comfortable process the entire time. Our bodies act a lot more like a feminine body. My entire center of gravity is lowering, I'm storing fat in different areas, my muscle tone is completely dropped, my muscle density is completely dropped. I think a lot of people think that you can just kind of take hormones, stay jacked, and you're going to be able to stay wherever you were. It's not that kind of a process. Your body's literally changing," Worms said.
She's going through the same process every transgender athlete does in order to compete competitively. That's why Lia Thomas' win is a big deal.
"When I first saw it, it was really exciting!" Worms said. "I was really kind of shocked by the whole thing. To see someone get there and succeed, and not just succeed, but struggle in that process meant a lot."
For the first time, she felt validated. While she's scared because she doesn't know what competing with women will be like once she's done transitioning, she knows it's possible now.
"I think her win means the world. Honestly, like, if my 12 to 15-year-old self would have seen that it may have changed my journey. 100%. I think that that's the most incredible thing," Worms said.
