Riley Gaines has welcomed a debate with trans activist Megan Rapinoe in an effort to have an “open dialogue” between two of the most high-profile figures on opposite sides of the trans in the sports debate.
Gaines was attacked by radical trans activists during a speech at San Francisco State University last week and continues to speak out against trans women, also known as biological women, competing in women’s sports.
The former University of Kentucky swimmer who competed with transgender female – formerly University of Pennsylvania men’s swimmer William Thomas, now known as Lia Thomas – has repeatedly criticized former USWNT star Rapinoe in recent days. Now, Gaines has agreed to the idea of having a direct conversation with her following a proposal from 2024 Republican presidential nominee Vivek Ramaswamy.
“Absolutely, this is an invitation,” Gaines told Ramaswamy The Vivek Show. “I’d like to, I’m in. In my experience in San Francisco last week, when I tried to have this open dialogue, I was ambushed, I mean violence, I was barricaded in a room for three hours.
“They tried to negotiate a ransom. If I wanted to get home safely, I had to pay them. That’s what I’m dealing with. So it’s so hard to stand in front of people you disagree with, if they won’t listen.
Ex-DI athlete Riley Gaines joined 2024 presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy on Wednesday
“We need more civilized, respectful ways of conducting dialogue. I think it’s so important.’
On Wednesday, Gaines condemned Rapinoe for a second day in a row, while also highlighting the hypocrisy of tennis great Billie Jean King for her support of trans participation in sports despite her historic fight for women in sports.
While speaking with Ramaswamy, Gaines explained her theory of why there has been an increase in both transgender people and their participation in sports in recent years.
“I’ve been thinking a lot about what the ulterior motive is,” she said. ‘Why? Why is this happening at such an alarming, rampant pace?’ My first observation is that everyone seems to want to be a victim; which is a very weird approach to have.
“Everyone wants to become a marginalized group in one way or another. Everyone wants to be oppressed.
They want to be a victim. At first it struck me, “Why? Why would anyone want to consider themselves marginalized?”
And I think it’s because when you become this “oppressed” group, you tend to have less responsibility. You have less responsibility, and to be honest, what I’ve noticed from this trans movement is that it’s often white men who transition. Of course we know that white men have never been seen as this “oppressed” group and so it’s a way for white men to be oppressed.’
While expressing those who suffer from gender dysphoria should be treated with empathy, Gaines emphasized an indisputable difference between people like Dylan Mulvaney and those who are biological women.
“We are more than just the hair, the makeup and a testosterone level. Women are more than just a testosterone level – there is so much more to being a woman.
Rapinoe was part of the World Cup winning USWNT that lost to an U15 academy team in 2015
“Even if men could reach the same level of women, which they can’t, there are still benefits that won’t go away and are especially noticeable in sports.”
The NCAA ‘calls for one year of testosterone suppression treatment’ before a trans woman, like Thomas, can compete with a biological woman. The only other criterion is to provide “a single serum testosterone level that falls below the maximum allowable level for the sport in which the student-athlete participates within four weeks of championship selections for that sport.”
Gaines disagreed with the approach to affirming “mental health problems” incurred by gender-confused people through life-changing surgeries, analogous to other dysphoria-focused mental illnesses such as anorexia.
“Remember the anorexia movement in the 1990s. These women who suffered from anorexia, did we validate them by telling them that they were, in fact, fat? No! And that’s not something you would do because it’s harmful.
‘Naturally, [those people] often thought they were fat, but they are not. So this is the same thing that’s happening now with this whole trans movement.
Former University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines suggested Megan Rapinoe was a hypocrite
“It’s terrifying that doctors and medical professionals are so negligent about doing this and I think we know why.”
Gaines went so far as to suggest that transgender surgeries were some sort of money-making scheme, referring to a Vanderbilt University Medical Center hospital doctor who bragged about the financial rewards in a 2018 video to support her argument.
The scandalous video was posted to social media in October by The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh and showed Dr Shayne Taylor – an LGBTQ specialist at the hospital – touting transgender surgeries as “huge money makers” for the hospital.
“Some of our finance folks at VUMC made some charges in October 2016 of how much money we think each patient would put in,” Taylor can be heard saying.
“And this only includes upper surgery, this does not include buttock surgery, and it’s a lot of money.”
President Joe Biden sparked controversy last week after his administration proposed a ruling that would ban schools and colleges across the US from transgender athletes from playing sports that align with their identity as opposed to their biological sex.
Dr. Shayne Taylor, a physician at the VUMC Clinic for Transgender Health, was recorded speaking about the lucrative finances of transgender surgery