American female swimmer Riley Gaines has blasted so-called feminists over their silence regarding biological male transgender athletes competing in women’s sports.
Speaking during an interview with The Daily Signal, asked, โWhere are the feministsโ in the fight to protect womenโs sports?
โI think itโs extremely ironic that the people advocating for this are the same party, the same people who were once advocating for the empowerment of women,โ Gaines said.
Gaines, a 12-time All-American and three-time Southeastern Conference champion, gained national attention last year after she tied with male swimmer Lia Thomasย in the 200 freestyle at the NCAA Division I Womenโs Championships.
Thomas previously competed on the men’s team and consistently ranked at the bottom.
However, he switched to the women’s team after claiming to be transgender and is now a record-breaking “champion” on the women’s team.
Since having to swim against Thomas, Gaines has continued to share her story and advocate for theย protection of womenโs sports.
She is now a spokeswoman for the Independent Womenโs Forum.
But Gaines says she is weary of being one of the few collegiate and professional female athletes proclaiming that men should not be allowed to compete with women and girls.
Too many people remain quiet on the issue over fears of being labeled a “transphobe” and canceled.
โWhere are the people who once believed that women, real women in all of their uniqueness, could conquer the world and deserved respect and deserved equal opportunities?โ Gaines asked during an interview with The Daily Signal.
When it comes to sports, Gaines says she knows where some of the โfeministsโ are.
“Whereโs Billie Jean King, whoโs a trailblazer? Sheโs fighting for trans inclusion,” Gained said.
“Whereโs Megan Rapinoe, who fought relentlessly for equal pay and equal resources and equal access for womenโs sports? Oh, sheโs fighting for trans inclusion.
It is โworth mentioning that neither one of these women have daughters, and both of these women are done with their careers, so they have nothing to lose,” she noted.
“They would rather virtue-signal than do whatโs right and whatโs moral and whatโs fair.โ
King, now 79,ย was a prominent female tennis player, winning 39 major titles during her career.
In the 1960s and early 1970s, King advocated for the passage ofย Title IX, a portion of the Education Amendments of 1972 that prevents discrimination on the basis of sex within public education.
King even โtook to Capitol Hill to testify on behalf of Title IX and to speak to its need in order for girls and women to advance in their sport,โ according toย Kingโs website.
In 2021, King spoke out in support of a Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference rule that allows men who identify as women toย compete onย womenโs sports teams.
โIโm proud to support all transgender athletes who simply want the access and opportunity to compete in the sport they love,โ King said inย a statement.
โThe global athletic community grows stronger when we welcome and champion all athletes โ including LGBTQI+ athletes.โ
In January, King attended the Australian Open in Melbourne and was seen waving an LGBTQ+ Pride flag.
Female soccer player Rapinoe, 37, plays on the United States womenโs national soccer team and the OL Reign, a professional womenโs soccer team based in Seattle.
Rapinoe, a two-time Womenโs World Cup winner, has long been a vocal advocate for equal pay, arguing that professional female soccer players should be paid the same as men.
Rapinoโs advocacy paid off last year when U.S. soccer agreed in a settlement after a legal battle to pay female players at an equal rate to men.
While Rapinoe was a leading voice for equal pay in womenโs soccer, she is also a vocal supporter of allowing males who identify as female to compete in womenโs sports.
“Show me the evidence that trans women are taking everyoneโs scholarships, are dominating in every sport, are winning every title,โ Rapinoe told Timeย when asked about her view on โtransgender inclusion in sportsโ during an interview last year.
“Iโm sorry, itโs just not happening.
โSo we need to start from inclusion, period,โ the soccer player added.
Whenย Gaines tiedย with Thomas at the NCAA Division I Womenโs Championships, she says she was told the trophy would be given to Thomas.
When Gaines questioned the decision, she remembers the NCAA official telling her, โWell, for photo purposes, Lia has to have it.
“You can pose with this one, but you go home empty-handed.
“Thomas takes the trophy.โ
At that moment, โit hit me across the headโฆ this is not progress, this is not progressive,โ Gaines said.
โWe are not moving forward. We are moving 50 years back in time to before Title IX, when women didnโt have equal opportunities in sports, by allowing men to infiltrate into our sports, into our locker rooms.โ
Democrat President Joe Biden’s administration has proposed changing the definition of the word โsexโ in Title IX to include gender identity and sexual orientation.
Under that proposed change, men who identify as women would be permitted to use womenโs restrooms and locker rooms, and participate on womenโs sports teams.
The proposed rule change remainsย under review.
โWe [are] taking those opportunities away from women in the same lifetime as some of these trailblazers for womenโs sports,โ Gaines said.
โIn their same lifetime, they saw the benefits of Title IX and now theyโre seeing that being taken away.โ
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