Riley Gaines, an all-American sprinter turned activist, is traveling across the country to discuss her issues about transgender athletes competing in women’s activities.
Before her remarks at the University of Utah last trip, she spoke to the Deseret News about why she is speaking out, despite the fact that some people have publicly disagreed with her.
“I received my degree in animal health sciences and health laws from the University of Kentucky next time. And I had every intention to go to medical school after college,” Gaines told an audience at the University of Utah Friday evening.
That is to say, using the plans I had made for myself, it would have been basically a breeze for me, safe, and secure for me to take off into the twilight. However, I made it clear that making plans for yourself is the quickest way to make God joke in your mouth. because he made it abundantly clear that he wanted me.
As part of her Reclaim Feminism Campus Tour, which the Leadership Institute sponsored, Morris, chairman of The Riley Gaines Center, visited the school campus on Friday night. She has been traveling the country, campaigning for the preservation of women’s places, and urging another female players to speak out against transgender athletes competing in women’s sports.
Gibson shared her experience as a 12-time All-American sprinter who competed against transgender swimmer Lia Thomas in her senior year of college in front of a crowd of nearly a hundred visitors members and supporters.
Morris said as a competitive school athlete, you have to dedicate your entire life to succeed. “I know none of that would have been possible without the children’s sports group,” she said.” It’s a longstanding voyage and impossible to put into terms the amount of compromises.”
The change in competition
“In most sports, your top tier athletes know each other, regardless of where you compete in the country, because we’ve grown up competing against each other,” Gaines said. She claimed that senior year was odd because neither she, her teammates, nor their coaches recognized the national athlete’s leadership.
“This was a senior from the University of Pennsylvania, which is not a school that historically produces fast swimmers, again, leading the nation by body lengths in events ranging from the 100 freestyle, which is, of course, a sprint, and all of the freestyle events in between through the mile, which is, of course, long distance,” Gaines said. Think about swimming in terms of your Olympic runners, for those of you who might not necessarily understand swimming. That’s like saying your best 200-meter runner is your best marathon runner — it doesn’t happen. Those are two totally different systems”.
Gaines claimed it became clear to her and her team why Thomas was winning until a news article appeared.
“I think every person is entitled — actually — I encourage every person to play sports because I’ve benefited from what sports have meant for me in terms of leadership and competence, setting goals and working toward those goals, all things that are very much playing out in my life,” Gaines told the Deseret News.
She emphasized that, however, first and foremost, it needs to be fair.
“I don’t think a third category (for transgender athletes) would suffice. Because, at the end of the day, you would still essentially have males and females competing,” Gaines continued. Do you further complicate the relationship between men who identify as women? And then, do you go even further? Again, fairness and safety matter, even on the men’s side between men who started puberty blockers before puberty for example, and it’s just too much”.
Gaines claimed that being a sportsperson doesn’t cater to outsiders is the beauty of the game. “We don’t look at religion, we don’t look at race. We don’t look at anything like that,” she said.
However, not everyone in college athletics shares Gaines’ sentiments. The head coach of the South Carolina women’s basketball team shared her support for transgender athletes over the weekend.
Dawn Staley was questioned by a reporter before the women’s NCAA championship about what her opinion was on the contentious subject. She replied,” I’m of the opinion that if you’re a woman, you should play. You should be able to play if you want to play sports or vice versa if you consider yourself a woman. That’s my opinion”.
When directly questioned about transgender women’s participation in women’s sports, Staley recognized that her stance might attract criticism.
“Yes, yes”, she said. I’m okay with the barnstormer people flooding my timeline and distracting me during one of our game’s biggest days, so I’m okay with that. I really am”.
The future of athletics
The majority of Americans oppose the inclusion of transgender athletes in women’s sports. A Gallup poll of about 1, 000 adults last year revealed that 69 % of Americans thought people should play on a team that matches their sex at birth.
“Likewise, fewer endorse transgender athletes being able to play on teams that match their current gender identity, 26 %, down from 34 %”, per the survey.
The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics recently implemented a policy that forbids transgender participation in female-only sports, according to a report from The Deseret News:
The NAIA supports fair and secure competition opportunities for all student athletes, the NAIA states. Title IX ensures that female athletes have distinct and equal opportunities. In consequence, the NAIA offers distinct categories of competition in all sports, with the exception of competitive cheer and competitive dance, both of which are co-ed.
Gaines is one of more than a dozen female athletes who sued the NCAA in March for violating Title IX. The lawsuit describes the shock Gaines and other swimmers experienced when they learned during the Georgia Tech championships that they would have to share a locker room with Thomas.
According to The Free Press, “it demands that the NCAA revoke all awards given to trans athletes in women’s competitions and’reassign’ them to their female competitors.” “It also asks for’damages for pain and suffering, mental and emotional distress, suffering and anxiety, expense costs and other damages due to defendants’ wrongful conduct.'”
Gaines told the Deseret News that after her experience, she looked more into what the law says about women’s sports. I’ve grown more knowledgeable about Title IX and am now more knowledgeable about the legal ramifications. I mean, they did violate this law. And so I thought to myself, for so long, someone has to do something”.
