Former NCAA swimmer Riley Gaines told Newsmax Wednesday that several women's sports trailblazers have "done a 180" on the issue of biological women competing against transgender athletes.
"Where are the feminists?" Gaines asked during an appearance on Newsmax's "Spicer & Co." "Where are the people who originally fought for women empowerment and for women to have these sex-segregated spaces? Billie Jean King, who was, of course, a trailblazer for women's sports, she's now actively advocating for trans inclusion in women's sports. Megan Rapinoe, who, again, is someone who fought relentlessly for women to have equal pay and equal access and equal resources in sports, she is now actively fighting for men to compete in women's sport."
"These are women who once understood what it meant and the empowerment behind having women's sports and women-only spaces," she continued. "But they have totally done a 180 and this shows that this movement is not progressive. This is not taking us forward in time. In reality, it's really taking us back 50 years in time to the early 1970s, to when we didn't have Title IX."
Gaines said she found that in talking with other female athletes who have either competed alongside a transgender teammate or competed against a transgender athlete, "these girls … are terrified of using their voice."
"Their institutions, their universities, they're telling them that their school has already taken their stance for them so they cannot use their voice," she said. "They're told that if they speak out, they will never get into grad school, they will never get a job."
"They're thought to be responsible for any harm that comes towards, in Lia Thomas' case, any harm that would come towards Lia Thomas, either emotional or physical," she continued. "Their coaches told these girls that they were responsible if any harm comes this athlete's way. So, these girls, they're being emotionally blackmailed and threatened, and they fear retaliation from their universities."
After tying transgender University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas in the women's 200-meter NCAAA championships last year, Gaines has become one of the most outspoken critics of transgender athletes competing in women's sports.
When asked how her experience was when she decided to speak out, Gaines said she had an "incredibly unique experience at the University of Kentucky."
"When I called my athletic director … I said, 'Hey, this is what happened, this is how I feel,'" she said. "'I don't want to put the university in a bad light. How do you feel about me taking a public stance?' My athletic director told me, 'Riley, speak your heart. I love you. I support you. I would support whatever stance you took.' And I'm realizing now what a rarity and a blessing that really is."
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