NCAA Swimmer Riley Gaines Assaulted by Transgender Activist at San Francisco State University

Riley Gaines, a former National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) swimmer, was physically assaulted Thursday night at San Francisco State University (SFSU) after giving a speech on protecting women’s sports.

After the assault, trans activists surrounded her and backed her into a room where she was barricaded for almost three hours.

“The prisoners are running the asylum at SFSU … I was ambushed and physically hit twice by a man,” Gaines posted in a Tweet. “This is proof that women need sex-protected spaces.”

Gaines, 22, was marginalized in an NCAA Women’s Championship competition in favor of transgender swimmer Lia Thomas in 2022 and has spoken out against males participating as females in women’s sports.

Gaines had set six records at the University of Kentucky and is a three-time NCAA championship qualifier and a U.S. Olympic qualifier.

Thomas had been allowed to compete in Gaines’ division after competing in the University of Pennsylvania’s men’s swim team for three years.

Gaines competed against Thomas in the 200-meter freestyle, which resulted in a tie for fifth place, but the NCAA awarded the trophy to Thomas.

Without the consent of the female athletes, Gaines said Thomas was also allowed to use the women’s locker room, and in frequent interviews, has discussed not only the awkwardness but the trauma of the encounters with the male Thomas being in the female locker room.

Gaines, in a text message to The Epoch Times after the attack on Friday, said she was fine, adding that, “We live in an upside down universe.”

“The pendulum has swung too far. Women should not be put in danger because we feel uncomfortable sharing a changing space with someone of the opposite sex. We shouldn’t be put in danger because we want our sports to be safe and fair. We have the right to express this without being mobbed,” Gaines wrote.

The swimmer further suggested that this incident would prompt the Biden administration to “release a statement expressing how this further endangers the LGBTQ community and continue to preach ‘inclusion’ no matter what females are hurt or excluded in the process.”

Surrounded by Trans Activists

Surrounded by trans activists, Gaines still managed to film the encounter as she was backed into a room.

In the video, Gaines is pursued by trans activists yelling profanities and chanting, “Trans rights are human rights,” while people are filming and taking photos.

Gaines was giving her speech during a Turning Point USA (TPUSA) event being held at the university.

TPUSA is a conservative non-profit organization with a mission to “identify, educate, train, and organize students to promote the principles of fiscal responsibility, free markets, and limited government.”

In 2022, The View host Whoopi Goldberg issued an apology after comparing members of TPUSA to “neo-Nazi demonstrators.”

In a Twitter post, the Golden Gate Xpress, SFSU’s student-run newspaper, framed Gaines’s retreat as her being “escorted out of the event into a side hallway in the HSS building.”

A later Twitter post by the school newspaper showed TPUSA student members waiting in a room to be escorted out of the building.

TPUSA Founder Charlie Kirk posted on Twitter about the assault, stating, “This is unacceptable at an American college campus, even in San Francisco. Pray for Riley Gaines and our brave students at SFSU.”

Free Speech Defense Organization Condemns Assault

Amanda Nordstrom, program officer with the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE)—an organization that defends freedom of speech on and off campuses through student and faculty outreach, education initiatives, and advocacy—condemned the assault and encouraged SFSU to “examine its failures last night and ensure a plan is in place to protect free speech for everyone, no matter their views.”

“Mob censorship is never an appropriate reaction to speech, even and especially speech that some consider controversial, and the First Amendment does not protect silencing s