Speaking Out: Riley Gaines Shares Supportive Words For California Runners After Trans Runner Takes Championship

By Vickie Ferguson | Saturday, 27 May 2023 04:30 PM
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Speaking Out: Riley Gaines Shares Supportive Words For California Runners After Trans Runner Takes Championship

Riley Gaines, who has been leading the fight to keep women's sports fair and equal, shares messages of support after a trans girl placed second in a Meet of Champions in California.

According to a report by Fox News, the former NCAA star swimmer at Kentucky shared text messages on Thursday received from California parents in support of fair and equal women's sports. The controversy was sparked when a transgender girl running in the Meet of Champions finished in second place. The second-place win propelled the transgender girl to the state championships.

The race results in the girls' 1,600-meter finals on Saturday had Hanne Thomsen of Montgomery in first place, followed by Athena Ryan of Sonoma Academy coming in second. In third place was Ellie Buckley of Campolindo. Ryan advances to the California Interscholastic Federation State Track and Field, to be held next week.

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Gaines received messages of support from parents who had reached out to her. Gaines tweeted, "Just a few of the many messages (I've) received from the girls _ their parents in CA whose sport (TF) is being infiltrated with mediocre men. They feel helpless. How can you read these and think what's happening is okay? (It's) discrimination against women and bullying at its finest."

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One message called the participation of transgender in women's sports "unfair." Anonymous messages called Gaines an "inspiration."

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Even with all the controversy and protests, Ryan appears undeterred. Ryan's time was 4:55.91. In the 1600-meter preliminary race, Ryan finished in sixth place and 21st place in the girls' 800-meter preliminaries.

The House Republicans' Women's Bill of Rights legislation was unveiled last week on Capitol Hill. Gaines was in attendance. On Wednesday morning, Gaines explained during a press conference that the bill would define the word "woman" in federal law, which would support other bills, such as the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act recently passed by the House.

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