A Florida congressman has claimed University of North Carolina swimming star Kylee Alons was forced to change in a closet to avoid having to undress in front of trans swimmer Lia Thomas.

Alons, a state champion swimmer, reportedly revealed the uncomfortable ordeal at the 2022 NCAA championships during a meeting with officials. Greg Steube.

“Today I met Kylee, the most decorated swimmer in North Carolina state history,” Steube tweeted Wednesday.

“She told me how at the NCAA Finals she changed in a closet instead of experiencing the sexual harassment that comes with undressing in front of Will ‘Lia’ Thomas — a physical male who insisted on being in the dressing room for to be women.”

The admission came as Alons met with lawmakers in Washington to lobby for legislation stopping the inclusion of transgender athletes in women’s sports.

Kylee Alons has claimed she changed in a closet to avoid a trans person. She is pictured center right with her teammates (LR) Katharine Berkoff, Sophie Sansson and Abby Arens

Riley Gaines (right) is seen in Atlanta, Georgia in March 2022 after swimming against Lia Thomas (left) at the NCAA Championships

One of Thomas’s biggest critics is former University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines

Alons was in her senior year at the University of North Carolina when she qualified for the 2022 NCAA Championships, the most prestigious collegiate swimming competition in America.

That same year, Thomas, a physical man who identifies as a woman, sparked controversy when she was allowed to use the women’s locker rooms.

She made history as the first transgender woman to win a national title that season, sparking a nationwide debate about including transgender athletes in women’s sports.

Alons’ appearance at Capitol Holl came after Steube sponsored and passed the Women and Girls in Sport Protection Act to legislate on the issue of transgender inclusion in sport.

The bill, passed by a 219-203 vote in the House of Representatives in April, would make it a violation of Title IX to allow biological males to participate in women’s athletic programs.

“Thank you @CWforA and @PYNance for working with me to pass the Women and Girls in Sports Protection Act in the House of Representatives,” Steube said in a follow-up tweet.

“The Senate must vote on this important bill to save women’s sports and protect athletes like Kylee from sexual harassment in the locker room.”

The law was also touted by Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville, who said after meeting Gaines and Alons, “Any girl who dreams of becoming the next Riley or Kylee deserves our support.”

“It’s time for the Senate to vote on my bill to save Title IX and save women’s sports.”

Responding to the post about Alons’ ordeal, Gaines condemned Thomas’ presence in female dressing rooms, saying, “She and her teammates changed in a janitor’s closet because it felt safer than changing in a locker room that has an intact man would move out at the same time.” .

“I’ve looked up to Kylee for a long time given how fast she is, but now that she’s speaking up, that’s even more important.”

Current and former athletes say trans athletes like Lia Thomas (left), the swimmer who achieved modest success in men’s categories before transitioning to become a national champion in women’s competitions, emphasize the physical benefits of trans women

Cece Telfer became the first openly transgender woman to win an NCAA title when she placed first in the 400m hurdles at the 2019 Division II National Championships (pictured)

The gathering comes at a time when more and more transgender athletes are finding success in women’s sport.

The issue came under the spotlight when Cece Telfer became the first openly transgender woman to win an NCAA title in 2019 when she placed first in the 400m hurdles at the Division II national championships.

The following year, New Zealander Laurel Hubbard became the first openly transgender woman to compete in the Olympics when she competed in weightlifting at the Tokyo Games.

Veronica Ivy won the 2018 UCI Women’s Masters Track World Championship for women aged 35-44 as Rachel McKinnon, becoming the first transgender track cycling champion.

The problem also exists in amateur sports, where trans cyclist Tiffany Thomas also took first place in a bike race in New York City in March.

Laurel Hubbard of New Zealand became the first openly transgender woman to compete in the Olympics when she competed in weightlifting at the Tokyo Games in 2020

Tiffany Thomas (center) placed first at the Randall’s Island Crit cycle race in New York City in March

The 46-year-old has been criticized by those who argue trans athletes have an unfair advantage in women’s sport

While some argue that sex reassignment procedures such as hormone therapy and surgery are enough to level the playing field, experts believe the physical advantage is irreversible.

Tommy Lundberg, a lecturer in physiology at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute and a leading researcher on the subject, told : “The important thing is whether or not you have benefited from male development and male puberty, and if you have , then you.” “will have benefits that you cannot undo later.”

Nancy Hogshead, a former professional swimmer who won three golds and one silver at the 1984 Olympics, told , “Trans women have an undeniable physical advantage.”

“Their bodies do what male bodies do when they go through puberty and that’s why we’re ubiquitously separating sports around the world…”

“Unless it’s just gaming, just recreational sports.” “All competitive sports are gender segregated.”

Courtesy of Pietro Orlando

Emanuela Orlandi, who lived within the walls of the Holy City, disappeared in the summer of 1983.

CNN –

The Vatican announced on Thursday that it would hand over evidence to Rome city prosecutors in the disappearance of the 15-year-old daughter of one of its employees 40 years ago.

Emanuela Orlandi, the daughter of a prominent Vatican employee and living within the walls of the holy city, disappeared in the summer of 1983 on her way home from a music class in central Rome.

The Vatican – which has come under scrutiny over the years for its handling of the case – announced in January that it had opened a new probe.

In a statement Thursday, the Vatican said that the office of Alessandro Diddi, the Vatican promoter of justice, “collected all the evidence available in the various institutions of the Vatican and the Holy See, and at the same time evidence through interviews with the individuals in the various institutions of the Vatican and the Holy See.” was in charge of certain offices at the time of the events.”

Antonio Masiello/Getty Images

Pietro Orlandi, Emanuela’s brother, takes part in a sit-in on January 14 to mark the 40th anniversary of her disappearance near St. Peter’s Square.

Diddi said through the Vatican press office that he had “found some investigative leads that deserve further consideration.” His office will therefore “send all relevant documents from the last few weeks to the public prosecutor of Rome so that he can examine them and proceed in the direction he deems most appropriate.”

It was unclear what the documents refer to, whether they are new or from archives.

Thursday’s development marks the first time the Vatican has publicly surrendered documents to Italian authorities.

The statement said the Vatican investigation was now closed, but Diddi promised to “continue its activities in this direction in the coming months” while “being aware of the sorrow felt at the disappearance of a relative”.

Courtesy of Pietro Orlando

A file photo of Emanuela Orlandi.

Orlandi disappeared on June 22, 1983 after a class at a music school next to the Catholic Church of Sant’Apollinare Opus Dei, near Piazza Navona in Rome.

Her father, Ercole Orlandi, who died in 2004, worked for the Institute for Religious Works of the Holy See. Her mother, Maria Orlandi, still lives in the family apartment in Vatican City. Her brother, Pietro Orlandi, has spent his life trying to find out what happened to his sister and has often accused the Vatican of hiding information.

He has called for a rally this Sunday in Rome in front of Castel Sant’Angelo, the latest place where the young girl’s body could be buried, and then headed to St. Peter’s Square to witness the Pope’s Sunday sermon Angelus. Orlandi holds rallies each year around the anniversary of the disappearance.

A four-part Netflix series directed by Mark Lewis, released last year, reignited interest in the high-profile case and shed light on several of the most well-known conspiracy theories, including that her kidnapping was linked to Mehmet Ali Agca, who was in prison for a week at the time Prison sat assassination attempt on John Paul II in St. Peter’s Square in 1981.

There have been numerous searches for Orlandi’s remains over the past four decades. In 2018, human remains were found at the Holy See’s embassy in Italy in central Rome, but DNA testing revealed no match.

A year later, the Vatican approved the exhumation of the tombs of two princesses believed to be buried in the Pontifical German College Cemetery in Vatican City. The remains of the princesses were not found in the tomb, nor were Orlandi’s, but two ossuaries were found under a secret door in the cemetery.

“Debris” was discovered Thursday afternoon in the Atlantic near the wreck of the Titanic by a robot participating in international searches to find a scientific tourism submersible that has disappeared since Sunday and whose oxygen on board has a priori been exhausted.

The US Coast Guard announced on Twitter on Thursday that a “debris field” “is in the search area from an ROV (Remotely Mounted Vehicle, ed.) near the Titanic,” the famous cruise ship that sank 111 years ago , the coast of the United States and Canada had been located.

A search expert told Sky News that the wreckage found in the North Atlantic was part of the launch pad and part of the submersible’s aft cabin. David Mearns is a friend of two of the passengers on Titan, explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet and billionaire Hamish Harding, and he was quick to confirm that the five men were likely dead.

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