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HOLLYWOOD – Trans swimmer Leah Thomas has resurfaced after virtually disappearing from public view.
On Thursday night in Los Angeles, the former University of Pennsylvania swimmer, born William Thomas, arrived in Serra-on-Vine in a purple dress and stilettos — standing about 6-foot-5 — to accept the Voice of Inspiration award at the 2025 Violet Visionary Awards.
The event, organized by the nonprofit Rainbow Labs, was sponsored in part by Los Angeles sports organizations such as Dodgers and Los Angeles Football Club.
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Penn Quakers swimmer Leah Thomas finishes eighth in the 100-meter freestyle at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships at Georgia Tech in Atlanta, Georgia on March 19, 2022. (Brett Davis/USA TODAY Sports)
Ahead of Thomas' speech, the mention of the Dodgers' sponsorship drew light applause from the crowd, although no one from the team spoke a word during the program.
LAFC, Dodgers among those supporting Thomas and LGBT activists
After mingling with the crowd and performing two drag performances, Leah Thomas took the stage to accept the Voice of Inspiration Award and set about finding purpose in trans activism.
But before that, there was a video montage of Thomas, tracing his journey from competing on the men's team as William Thomas to entering the women's competition in 2022 as Leah Thomas.
Thomas was portrayed as an athlete struggling for recognition while facing backlash.
“An incredible shout out to everyone at Rainbow Labs for bringing me and everyone here and putting this all together,” Thomas began.
Thomas, 26, received the Voice of Inspiration award at the 2025 Violet Visionary Awards in Los Angeles on Thursday night. (Alejandro Avila/OutKick)
“This really worries me because I remember all too well not too long ago when I was 18 and just realizing I was trans.”
Thomas, 26, continued: “And I was so excited at the prospect of being who I am, but I was so scared to take these steps because I didn’t know any other trans people. I didn't know—I barely understood what it meant to be transgender.
“Being open and exposed within myself felt like an impossible mountain to climb, and I didn’t know if I had the strength to do it.”
Thomas noted that he had transgender mentors who helped the swimmer reconcile his trans identity with the sport.
Thomas said, “It was only because of so many amazing, amazing trans mentors that I was able to find the strength and courage to go out and be myself, to finally reconcile my ‘transness’ and my identity as a swimmer and be able to compete as a trans woman.”
Leah Thomas calls trans platform 'my goal'
After Thomas joined the competition, female athletes, including OutKick's Riley Gaines, spoke out against men playing women's sports.
During the 2024 election campaign, then-President-elect Donald Trump proved to be a big supporter of Gaines and other women, raising concerns about competition with men.
Their influence led Trump to issue an executive order banning biological males from participating in women's sports.
The President even withheld federal funding from the University of Pennsylvania because Thomas was allowed to compete against women, although Penn State ultimately became the third school to reject the President's funding terms.
“And I'm so grateful to them – these people and these mentors – and I'm so glad that organizations like Rainbow Labs exist,” Thomas added, saying people have taken to social media with “reports of violence.”
Thomas, 26, received the Voice of Inspiration award at the 2025 Violet Visionary Awards in Los Angeles on Thursday night. (Alejandro Avila/OutKick)
“If I had had an organization like this growing up that would have given me the knowledge and language to describe my transgender identity, how important that would have been. Because I faced a lot of persecution. I have received many messages of violence against me in Instagram comments and private messages. I didn't know what to do.”
Throughout the evening, speakers described LGBT Americans as living under oppression and celebrated people who identify as transgender as heroes of the event.
Nearly 70 percent of Americans oppose the participation of transgender athletes in women's sports, and Thomas' inclusion also sparked controversy over allowing men to share women's locker rooms.
Thomas remains steadfast, even after all the controversy, calling the trans influencer's platform “my goal.”
Former UPENN Swimmer LEAH THOMAS TO RECEIVE VOICE OF INSPIRATION AWARD AT DODGERS SPONSORED EVENTS
Transgender Pennsylvania swimmer Leah Thomas speaks with her coach after winning the 500-meter freestyle during the NCAA college swimming meet with Harvard at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on January 22, 2022. (AP Photo/Josh Reynolds)
“But I owe so much to the mentors who came before me that it became clear that I should be the next beacon in a line of torches going back hundreds of years to transgender people. This was my goal. That was what I was here for,” Thomas said.
“And so to be that new light for people is an honor that I can’t describe. This means more than anything else. And I'm so grateful for the opportunity to do this. And so thank you all so much.”
Since Thomas' inclusion in varsity women's swimming (chaired by NCAA), women's rights activists such as Riley Gaines, competing against Thomas, spoke out about the loss of opportunities and rewards for women due to the inclusion of trans athletes, something that networks like ESPN have promoted.
Leah Thomas was quiet but didn't leave
As more people spoke out against Thomas and similar causes, such as trans volleyball player Blair Fleming, Thomas began to lose some of the favor shown by the media.
The tone of the evening reflected an attempt to move mainstream American culture toward greater acceptance of LGBT identity and activism.
Also speaking at the event on behalf of the Los Angeles Football Club group, spokeswoman Daisy Chavez shared a commitment to supporting “gay people” in the Los Angeles community.
“We are a community of queer fans, local leaders, supporters and activists for Los Angeles FC. And if you don't know, we follow sports because we've always been here. We were athletes, we were fans, we were sports fans.
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“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 rejoice, full of joy and love for our local community, but we also represent our queer people and we are so proud to be there every step of the way.”
After all the awards were presented (one of which also went to a gender non-conforming trans woman named “Alok”), the event ended with a striptease show.
For an evening dedicated to inspiration, the final acts of the show had a very different message.
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