Riley Gaines, front left, celebrated with teammates after winning the 4x200 relay at the SEC Championships in 2022. (UK Athletics Photo)
Riley Gaines was a 12-time All-American swimmer at Kentucky who set SEC meet and conference records in the 200-meter butterfly who helped Kentucky win its first SEC championship. She was also the SEC Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year in 2022 and won the prestigious Sullivan Award the same year.
However, Gaines has become a national figure since graduating from UK by voicing her beliefs that transgender women should compete in their own division because of advantages they have over biological women when they compete.
She is now a spokeswoman for the Independent Women’s Forum (IWF) and has shared her beliefs in various spots across the country and with numerous national media outlets after she spoke out after competing in the NCAA Championships against trans swimmer Lia Thomas.
She was at San Francisco State University Thursday to speak to the local chapter of Turning Point USA about her feelings on biological male athletes competing in women’s sports. Gaines’ stance has always been that they should compete in their own division and not against biological women.
Numerous pro-transgender protestors were outside the room where she was speaking before eventually coming inside.
Gaines told me Saturday she was “terrified” at first and that campus police were not prepared for what happened when protestors came inside.
“I was hit and punched. I was finally escorted into a classroom where I was basically held hostage for three hours,” she said.
She was able to call her husband while she was barricaded inside the room waiting for campus police to take action. Instead, she had to wait until San Francisco police arrived to take care of the situation.
Gaines told me she was “respectful like always” during her talk and this incident only “assured me I am doing the right thing” even more.
Gaines told Rachel Campos-Duffy on “Fox & Friends Weekend” Saturday that she would “be pursuing legal action” against those who attacked her physically and verbally.
Numerous videos posted on social media, including one by Gaines, showed the incident.
Eli Bremer, Gaines’ agent, issued this statement of Fox News Digital:
“In the past year, her goal in speaking at universities has been to educate her peers about her experience and what the impact of the growing number of biological males in women’s sports will do to the integrity of Title IX. She has been questioned in civil and somewhat uncivil manners about her views many times, and she thoroughly encourages diverse viewpoints and debate on this issue.
“Riley was violently accosted, shouted at, physically assaulted, and barricaded in a room by protestors. It is stunning that in America in 2023, it is acceptable for biological male students to violently assault a woman for standing up for women’s rights.
“This will not stop Riley from boldly educating people of the dangers of biological males in women’s sports. She will continue to speak the truth against the radical left that no longer understands the difference between men and women.”
The incident made national news with stories appearing in newspapers in New York City and Washington, D.C., among others and was reported on not only by Fox News but also MSN, CNN and Yahoo News.
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7 Responses
It’s the new norm.
No it ain’t, she has more balls than some of us and I agree with her. God didn’t create us to change our body , he gave us a gift to to be on this earth regardless.
Forgod sakes relax. You immediately took that the wrong way.. The new norm is these idiots doubt the attacking. Holy crap.. I thought it was more obvious what i meant. People look to be argumentative
She has the courage to work and speak for her beliefs without having to try to bully or intimidate those who disagree. And this is a national and world dilema that a girl from Ky is working to communicate and explain. What is fair? It is certainly not the oppositions
feeling that "saying you’re one sex" doesn’t make you that sex biologically or legally.
I guess after hundreds of thousands of years in just a few decades we can change the science and practice which have guided civilization. And if you do not agree with "our opinion" we will attack you.
This culture is in major trouble when people call evil good and good is called evil. Isaiah 5:20 would be a good place to start a revival for America if it is nat already too late
Forgod sakes relax. You immediately took that the wrong way.. The new norm is these idiots doubt the attacking. Holy crap.. I thought it was more obvious what i meant. People look to be argumentative
You go WOMAN.