“This happens a lot for something that never happens,” writes Riley Gaines, perhaps the country’s most prominent advocate for the movement to prevent trans women from competing in women’s collegiate sports. Gaines is commenting on a post she shared about a new school record set in the women’s 300m by Rochester Institute of Technology sophomore Sadie Schreiner.
Her comment — “for something that never happens” — specifically addresses the progressive criticism that conservatives exaggerate the prevalence of trans women in sports for political purposes, when in reality instances are rare. Gaines disagrees about that rarity, and posts frequently about the issue — where a popular hashtag is #savewomenssports.
New collegiate school record in women's 300m at @RITtigers !!! Except it was set by a male
— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) December 13, 2023
This happens a lot for something that never happens @RITTFXC pic.twitter.com/qDTUOyIv6P
Gaines created her own post amplifying the story to her nearly 900K followers and also shared a post by the conservative rabble-rousing TikTok account Libs of TikTok. The former University of Kentucky swimmer sarcastically celebrated the accomplishment with three exclamation points, before bringing the trans issue into the post.
She writes: “New collegiate school record in women’s 300m at @RITtigers !!! Except it was set by a male.”
Gaines’s pinned tweet — from March — encapsulates her outrage at what she perceives as the failure of sports governing bodies like the NCAA to actually govern which bodies are participating in collegiate competitive sports. Gaines cites the case of Lia Thomas, who she says “stole” rather than “earned” her national title in swimming.
Lia Thomas is not a brave, courageous woman who EARNED a national title. He is an arrogant, cheat who STOLE a national title from a hardworking, deserving woman. The @ncaa is responsible.
— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) March 26, 2023
If I was a woman working at ESPN, I would walk out. You're spineless @espn #boycottESPN https://t.co/DF3n5RWsmV
RIT’s profile on X reads: “Rochester Institute of Technology. Home to leading artists, creators, entrepreneurs, innovators & researchers. 20,500 students & 145,000 alumni strong.”
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