Riley Gaines sues Lia Thomas.

The Fight to Keep Women’s Sports for Biological Women

The fight to keep women’s sports exclusively for biological women is just beginning and will be a long one. Former University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines brought the fight front and center when she was forced to compete with transgender athlete Lia Thomas. Now, Gaines has upped the ante in the fight to protect women’s and girls’ sports. She recently filed a $2 million lawsuit against Thomas, who was born William Thomas, citing cheating in order to win the national women’s swimming title, and exposing himself in a female locker room.

The Cheating Controversy

When Lia Thomas began life, and eventually her swimming career as William Thomas, he was ranked 462 among collegiate male swimmers. Miraculously, that all changed when William became Lia. Lia Thomas trounced her biological female competitors winning the 2022 NCAA National Championships in the 200- and 500-meter freestyle races by a whopping 38 seconds.

Not only does Riley Gaines’ lawsuit cite Thomas cheating, but also says that she and her teammates had no prior warning that a biological man that identifies as a woman would be allowed to share a locker room. Gaines said that it created a very uncomfortable situation saying, “We were not forewarned beforehand that we would be sharing a locker room with Lia. We did not give our consent, they did not ask for our consent, but in that locker room we turned around, and there’s 6’4” biological man dropping his pants and watching us undress, and we were exposed to male genitalia.”

Gaines said of the lawsuit, “Thomas cheated in more ways than one. She took a moment I worked my entire life to achieve.” Thomas responded through a spokesman in a snark-filled, dare it be said, “bitchy” statement, “I earned the stalemate. I am referring to your fifth-place finish in a single event at the National Championships as your defining moment. Honey, I didn’t even know your name until yesterday.”

The Fight for Women’s Sports

The lawsuit cements Riley Gaines as the face of the fight to keep women’s sports for biological women. Recently, President Joe Biden proposed a change to Title IX, which is designed to protect women’s and girls’ sports that would prohibit the outright ban of transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports. Gaines has been outspoken about that as well, saying that, “The Biden Admins proposed bill denies science, truth, and common sense.”

Gaines has felt the wrath of the transgender crowd. While speaking at an event at San Francisco State University last month, Gaines was assaulted and held in a room for three hours while protesters shouted her down. But Gaines could be getting some help from voices just as loud as hers.

Former Fox News anchor and podcast host Megyn Kelly has clearly had enough and is joining Gaines being front and center in the fight for women’s sports. On her podcast recently, she pulled no punches saying, “I’m sick of all the bullsh-t…I care about women. I care about girls. I care about their feelings. That’s who I’m fighting for.” Kelly has also been outspoken about Bud Light’s “spokesman” and transgender activist Dylan Mulvaney. Of Mulvaney, Kelly said, “You don’t know the first thing about being a woman. You have no idea what the average woman has been through the course of her life, the challenges we have, the beauty of being a woman, the softness of being a woman. And you never will. You’re never going to have it, doesn’t matter how many surgeries, doesn’t matter how many hormones, and I am done engaging in this fiction. I’m done! I have empathy, I have compassion, but I am not willing to abandon truth in the name of sparing feelings.”

The Power of Numbers

There is an old saying that there is safety in numbers. As the lawsuit winds its way through court, it might be enough for other female athletes to come forward and lend their own voices to Riley Gaines, and the fight to end the all-out erasure of women’s sports.

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