Watch: Riley Gaines Doubles Down On Lia Thomas, Slams 'Emotional Blackmail'
When former NCAA swimmer Riley Gaines spoke up on the podcast featuring transgender swimmer Lia Thomas, she used words like “entitlement” and “selfishness” to describe the situation. It’s clear that Gaines and many other female athletes are not happy with the idea of allowing biological males to compete in women’s sports.
Gaines’ response to the podcast was as follows: “What Thomas is doing in this podcast is simply gaslighting people into feeling like they’re wrong for feeling uncomfortable in the locker room, feeling like they should be ok with stepping aside and smiling and allowing these men to take our spots on the podium, take our titles, take our scholarships, take away our opportunities.”
It’s not just Gaines who is speaking out against the idea of biological males competing in women’s sports. Sixteen of Thomas’s teammates wrote the NCAA anonymously in February 2022, urging that Thomas be barred from competing. Gaines continued to speak out against Thomas, describing her actions as “emotional blackmail”, saying “Thomas’s teammates, one even just yesterday after watching this podcast, who informed me the gaslighting that Thomas was portraying is what they dealt with all year last year. She’s informed me of some really heartbreaking, awful stories that resulted in emotional blackmail by both Thomas and their university into trying to silence their voices, suppress their voices, trying to make them feel guilty for wanting fair competition and safety in their sports.”
The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty released a letter Friday demanding answers from the Sun Prairie Area School District after a March 3 incident where a transgender woman reportedly took a shower with four 14-year-old girls. Gaines expressed her outrage over the incident, saying “These are 14-year-old girls. They should never have to be in a position where they are seeing male genitalia without giving their consent. It’s mind blowing and it’s becoming more and more common.”
It’s hard to argue with Gaines’ opinion on the matter: biological males should not be allowed to compete in women’s sports. Not only does it strip away opportunities from female athletes, but it also creates an unsafe environment for young women who are put in the position of having to shower and change around biological males.
It’s important to remember that while the transgender community deserves respect and recognition, there should be a clear boundary when it comes to participating in sports. We should not be forcing girls to compete against biological men in sports. It’s a matter of fairness and safety, and that’s something we can all agree on.