MLS team pledges 'queer' community support after sponsoring ex-UPenn swimmer Lia Thomas event

Major League Soccer’s Los Angeles Football Club was one of two professional sports teams to sponsor Rainbow Lab’s Violet Visionary Awards on Thursday night.

The award ceremony honored former UPenn swimmer Lia Thomas with a “Voice of Inspiration” award, which is given to “an individual whose story and actions ignite hope and courage within the LGBTQ+ community.”

Thomas, a transgender woman, won a women’s national title in 2022, which became the catalyst in the national debate over transgender athletes in girls’ and women’s sports.

 

Thomas gave a speech at the event, which the Los Angeles Dodgers also sponsored. Neither the Dodgers nor LAFC responded to emails from Fox News Digital regarding their thoughts on Thomas receiving the award.

However, a spokesperson for the soccer club did speak at the event, which OutKick attended, as Daisy Chavez showed support for the LGBTQ community.

“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,” Chavez said. “We’ve been athletes, we’ve been fans, we’ve been lovers of the sports. 

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“And so our presence with this club reminds not just the club, the community, but the world that we’ve always been here. And so we cheer, full of joy and love for our local community, but also we represent for our queer folks, and we’re so proud of being there every step of the way.”

Riley Gaines, who competed against Thomas and tied the former UPenn swimmer at the national tournament, was not pleased with Thomas being given the award.

“Voice of inspiration? The only people Will Thomas inspires are other men who realized you can take everything from women – our records, our spaces, our opportunities – and still get a standing ovation,” Gaines told OutKick, using Thomas’ birth name. “It’s 2025, not 2020. We’re done pretending that’s courage.”

Twenty-nine states have regulations regarding trans athletes in girls’ and women’s sports. President Donald Trump signed an executive order prohibiting trans athletes from competing against females in February.

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