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HOLLYWOOD – Trans swimmer Lia Thomas has resurfaced after largely disappearing from public view.
On Thursday evening in Los Angeles, the former UPenn swimmer, born William Thomas, arrived at Serra on Vine wearing a purple dress and stilettos — standing about 6 feet 5 inches tall — to accept the “Voice of Inspiration Award” at the 2025 Violet Visionary Awards.
The event, hosted by the nonprofit Rainbow Labs, was sponsored in part by Los Angeles sports organizations such as the Dodgers and the LA Football Club.
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Penn Quakers swimmer Lia Thomas finishes eighth in the 100 freestyle at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships at Georgia Tech in Atlanta, Georgia on March 19, 2022. (Brett Davis/USA TODAY Sports)
Before Thomas’ speech, a mention of the Dodgers sponsorship drew slight applause from the crowd, although no one from the team spoke during the program.
LAFC, Dodgers among those supporting Thomas and LGBT activists
After mingling with the crowd and performing twice in drag, Lia Thomas took the stage to accept the Voice of Inspiration award and doubled down on her efforts to find purpose in trans activism.
But before that, a video montage was released about Thomas, tracing the path from competing in the men’s team as William Thomas to entering the women’s competition in 2022 as Lia Thomas.
Thomas has been described as an athlete struggling for acceptance while facing backlash.
“An incredible thank you to everyone at Rainbow Labs for bringing me and everyone here and putting this all together,” Thomas began.
Thomas, 26, accepted the “Voice of Inspiration Award” at the 2025 Violet Visionary Awards in Los Angeles on Thursday evening. (Alejandro Avila/OutKick)
“It makes me very emotional because I remember very clearly being 18 not too long ago and realizing I was trans.”
Thomas, 26, continued: “And I felt so excited about being able to be who I am, but so terrified about taking these steps because I didn’t know any other trans people. I didn’t know – I barely knew what being trans meant.
“Being open and open within myself seemed like an impossible mountain to climb, and I didn’t know if I had the strength to do it.”
Thomas acknowledged having trans mentors who helped the swimmer reconcile his trans identity with athletics.
Thomas said: “It’s only because of so many incredible, amazing trans mentors that I was able to find that strength and courage to come out and be myself and finally reconcile my ‘transness’ and my identity as a swimmer and be able to compete as a now trans woman.”
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Lia Thomas calls trans platform ‘my goal’
After Thomas joined the competition, female athletes, including OutKick’s Riley Gaines, spoke out to denounce men playing women’s sports.
During the 2024 election campaign, then-President-elect Donald Trump emerged as a big supporter of Gaines and other women, raising concerns about competing with men.
Their influence led to Trump passing an executive order banning biological males from participating in women’s sports.
The president even suspended federal funding for the University of Pennsylvania to allow Thomas to compete against women, although UPenn ultimately became the third school to reject the president’s funding conditions.
“And I’m very grateful to them – to these people and these mentors – and I’m so happy that organizations like Rainbow Labs exist,” Thomas added, saying people have sent “messages of violence” on social media.
Thomas, 26, accepted the “Voice of Inspiration Award” at the 2025 Violet Visionary Awards in Los Angeles on Thursday evening. (Alejandro Avila/OutKick)
“If I had had an organization like that when I was a kid to give me the knowledge and the language to describe being trans, how important that would have been. Because I faced a lot of harassment. I received a lot of violent messages against me in my comments on Instagram and in my direct messages. I didn’t know what to do.”
Throughout the evening, speakers portrayed LGBT Americans as living under oppression and celebrated people who identify as transgender as the heroes of the event.
Nearly 70 percent of Americans oppose transgender athletes competing in women’s sports, and Thomas’ inclusion also sparked controversy over allowing men to share women’s locker rooms.
Thomas remains undeterred, even after all the controversy, calling platforming as an influential trans figure “my goal.”
EX-UPENN SWIMMER LIA THOMAS RECEIVES ‘VOICE OF INSPIRATION’ AWARD AT DODGERS-SPONSORED EVENT
Penn transgender swimmer Lia Thomas speaks to her coach after winning the 500-meter freestyle during an NCAA college swimming meet with Harvard at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, January 22, 2022. (AP Photo/Josh Reynolds)
“But I owe so much to these mentors before me that it was clear that I had to be the next light in a line of torches going back hundreds of years of trans people. That was my goal. That was what I was here to do,” Thomas said.
“And so to be able to be the next light for people is an honor that I can’t describe. It means more than anything. And I’m very grateful to have the opportunity to do it. And so thank you all so much.”
Since Thomas’ inclusion in collegiate women’s swimming (led by the NCAA), women’s rights activists like Riley Gaines – having competed against Thomas – have spoken out about the loss of opportunities and awards for women due to the inclusion of trans athletes, promoted by networks like ESPN.
Lia Thomas was silent, but doesn’t want to go away
As more people spoke out against Thomas and similar cases, such as trans volleyball player Blaire Fleming, Thomas began to lose some of the media’s favor.
The tone of the evening reflected an effort to shift mainstream American culture toward a fuller embrace of LGBT identity and activism.
“We are a community of queer fans, local leaders, supporters and activists of the Los Angeles Football Club. And if you don’t know, we follow sports because we’ve always been here. We’ve been athletes, we’ve been fans, we’ve been lovers of sports.
“And so our presence in this club reminds not only the club, the community, but the world that we have always been here. And so we applaud, full of joy and love for our local community, but we also represent our queer people, and we are so proud to be here every step of the way.”
Once all the awards were handed out – one also went to a gender non-conforming trans woman named “Alok” – the event concluded with a stripper show.
For an evening dedicated to inspiration, the final acts of the show offered a radically different message.
