Originally a comment by Your Name’s not Bruce? on Noticeably quiet.

Here’s an idea.

A whole group of people should go to each of Thomas’s meets dressed as Napoleon, all demanding to be addressed as “Your Majesty” and that they all be seated in the Emperor’s Box for the event. They could, each and all, identify themselves as Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of the French. A special press representative could accompany the Band of Bonapartes, explaining how each of them identifies as the Emperor, and that this true, sincere identification clearly overrides trivial material details such as the fact that the supposedly “real” Napoleon is dead. (Without an identity, that first guy’s just a corpse anyhow.) It can be explained how each Emperor has a deep-seated understanding and lived experience as Napoleon, and that to to deny them their rights was a hateful, Anglo-inspired, Francophobic plot. At the end of each swim, they go to Thomas en mass and congratulate him on the fine work he’s doing for everyone who “identifies as”. They could have photos taken together. It would be so warm and touching. I’m fighting back tears just thinking about it.

Finding a pair of Furries who identify as the Emperor’s horse Marengo would be a nice touch. (They could wear a saddle blanket, stitched in thread of gold with the slogan “Panto Horses are Real Horses.”)

Of course the whole “Lia” Thomas situation is a scandal, travesty and tragedy all rolled into one. It is causing real harm to women. I think Thomas himself is pretty much a lost cause. He’s come so far already that it’s unlikely that he’s going to see suddenly that he is in the wrong. Women aren’t going to back down: they’re becoming more vocal and organized. More of the unaware public are being peaked by this ongoing, unfolding conspiracy to steal opportunities and awards from women. I think more hope lies in shaming and embarrassing the institutions and authorities which have allowed this to happen, and those which are going along with it. The question is how far will they go to protect the obvious lying and cheating? How obviously dishonest and complicit do they want to be seen to be? How much stomach for this do they really have? I say we should put them to the test and find out.