Swimmer activist Riley Gaines has claimed that soccer player Megan Rapinoe would violently defend her place on the U.S. national team if a transgender woman tried to take her place.
Gaines swam for the University of Kentucky and left the university in 2022 as “one of the most decorated swimmers in program history,” according to the UK website. She became a 12-time NCAA All-American swimmer and a five-time SEC champion.
Gaines took on transgender University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas in the NCAA championships in March 2022, saying the experience of racing with Thomas — who competed in the men’s competition until 2019 — “felt like going into the race with my hands tied behind my back. back.’
She has since become an outspoken campaigner against allowing trans women to compete against biological women, was harassed at San Francisco State University on April 7 and appeared on Piers Morgan’s show Tuesday night to discuss her activism.
Gaines was asked about Rapinoe, who said in June that she had no problem with trans women in sports.
Riley Gaines spoke to Piers Morgan on Tuesday about her activism against trans women in sports
Gaines (R) competed against Lia Thomas in March 2022 in NCAAW Swimming
“Show me proof that trans women are taking everyone’s scholarships,” Rapinoe said.
“I’m sorry, it’s just not happening. So we have to start with inclusion, period. And when things happen, I’m confident we’ll work it out.”
Last week, Gaines labeled Rapinoe a “fake feminist” and suggested that both she and longtime women’s rights advocate Billie Jean King were hypocrites for opposing a ban on biological men in women’s sports.
“If you’ve ever seen Megan Rapinoe play, she’s a very tough, aggressive player,” Rapinoe told Morgan.
“So I can’t tell you what she would have done, but I can tell you exactly what I think she would have done.
“I think she’d actually shave someone if a man tried to take her place.”
Gaines said Rapinoe, pictured, was “a very tough, aggressive player” who wouldn’t accept being pushed off the U.S. national team by a transgender woman
Rapinoe, seen April 15, has 199 caps and is aiming for the elusive 200. Only 13 American women have previously played 200 times for their country
Gaines said Rapinoe, 37, had “nothing to lose” by welcoming trans women into the sport, falsely claiming that Rapinoe is retired.
Her fiancé, basketball player Sue Bird, retired last year and Rapinoe joked that she was jealous, but Rapinoe remains on the national team and plays for Seattle’s OL Reign.
“She’s done playing, she’s got nothing to lose, she’s got no daughter to defend—so what’s there to lose in signaling virtue?” asked Gaines.
In reality, it’s not nice to ask a girl to share a dressing room with fully equipped male parts.
“Not including asking a woman to smile and step aside so a man can take her place and honor.”
Gaines said she supported Joe Biden’s planned policy that would give high schools the authority to ban trans athletes from participating.
Thomas was unsurprisingly critical of Biden’s proposal.
“Lia Thomas was quoted saying, you know, ‘It breaks my heart to see trans kids miss out on opportunities.'” Gaines told Morgan.
Replace that with the word woman – does it still break Thomas’s heart to see women miss out on opportunities?
‘Cause that’s exactly what’s happening. From my experience competing against Lia Thomas at the National Championships, I saw firsthand women miss out on opportunities.
“I watched women fail to become All-Americans and miss those eighth and 16th by one place because they were displaced by a man.
“This, of course, goes against everything Title IX was created to protect and now we have the Biden administration, the people in the White House, actively working to rewrite Title IX.”
Title IX, enacted as part of the Education Amendments of 1972, currently reads: “No person in the United States shall be disqualified, on the basis of sex, from participation in, denied the benefits of, or subjected to discrimination in connection with any any education. program or activity receiving federal funding.”
It was introduced as a means to protect women in sports and to provide more opportunities, among other things.
Gaines’ activism was discussed Friday night on Bill Maher’s show and was criticized by Democratic Representative Katie Porter.
Porter suggested that Gaines had used the incident as a way to “get likes and clicks.”
“When I watched this back, you just couldn’t help but laugh,” Gaines told Morgan on Tuesday.
Lia Thomas can be seen in the ESPN clip describing how switching was the only option for her
Texas-born Thomas pitches for the University of Pennsylvania
Thomas became the first trans athlete to win an NCAA Division One championship title
Gaines can be seen at a rally this January outside the NCAA convention in San Antonio
“Like you said, it’s ironic. It is always women who fight against the spaces and rights protected by women. I’m surprised, but I so appreciate that both you and Bill are standing up for myself because you hit the nail on the head.
“I speak for every female athlete, not just myself.
“I’m done competing. This isn’t about me.
“But I know what’s at stake when someone doesn’t use their voice. I have a younger sister. I just got married. I can only hope that one day I have a daughter and I can’t imagine being in this position and not fighting for them.
“But I also fight for today’s female athletes — even Lia Thomas’ teammates, who have had their voices suppressed. They see what happens to me when I go to the state of San Francisco and they don’t want to put themselves in a position where speaking up would pay them off.
“So it’s much bigger than just me and to see Rep Katie Porter even say it just plainly shows she doesn’t know anything about what I’ve been up to in the last year.” There has been nothing for personal advancement.
“Nothing has been of monetary value to me. I was going to study dentistry this year. So I by no means felt equipped to do what I do.
“This isn’t about me, and when I heard her say that, she showed she was really ignorant.”
Before appearing on Morgan’s show, Gaines used Twitter to criticize Thomas’s comments on Title IX, suggesting that her stance was “selfish” and showed “an utter disregard for women.”
Thomas’s competition as a woman was highly controversial.
The swimmer hoped to try for the Paris Olympics in 2024 after graduating – but that now looks unlikely given new rules requiring trans athletes to transition before the age of 12 by June 2022.
Gaines, who studied public health and is now entering dentistry, has become one of the most outspoken advocates against trans women in sports.
“Whether they have different lung capacities, their height, testosterone levels or whether or not they’ve taken testosterone blockers – it doesn’t suppress puberty as a man. Especially Lia, who swam as a male for three years,” Gaines told Fox News’ Tucker Carlson in April 2022.
“Lia Thomas has shown extreme selfishness and a great lack of awareness – and just a total disregard for women.”
Gaines said Thomas’s participation in women’s collegiate swimming is part of a broader problem in society.
“We’re looking at the denial of the most basic truths,” she said.
“If you can’t recognize what a woman is, there’s a huge problem.
“This goes deeper than just sports. This is a systematic erasure of what a woman is.’