Riley Gaines has slammed the law enforcement agencies for allowing a transgender player to play tennis alongside young girls in Virginia. Gaines, a self-proclaimed advocate for women’s rights in sports, recently took to social media to criticize the decision.
A recent ruling in Virginia means that a 7-year-old tennis player will be allowed to compete alongside other female tennis players even though she is transgender and not biologically female.
Riley Gaines has been critical of the decision from the start, using her X account (formerly Twitter) to criticize the ruling. Her statement said,
"These parents gave their 7-year-old son anti-adulteration drugs. They changed his birth certificate to female. Now, an Obama-appointed judge has ruled that he can compete in tennis with girls.
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This is child abuse and their parents belong in jail."
Riley Gaines has been a staunch supporter of women's rights in sports, and she has consistently opposed the inclusion of transgender athletes in women's sports. She has hosted the podcast "Gaines for Girls" since 2023, which airs aired on Outkick and Fox Nation channels.
Riley Gaines criticized the inclusion of boxers like Algeria's Imane Khelif and Taiwan's Lin Yu Ting in the Paris Olympics. Gaines called the two boxers transgender athletes and claimed that they were not eligible to compete in the Paris Olympics.
She even praised Italy's Angela Carini as a hero for refusing to compete against the Algerian boxer, who went on to win gold in the women's light heavyweight [66kg.].
Riley Gaines' advocacy for women's rights in sports began in 2022 at the NCAA Championships, when she represented the University of Kentucky in the 200-yard freestyle swimming event.
Gaines finished fifth overall in the final. Prior to that event, she won silver at the 2021 championships in the women's 4x200-yard freestyle relay event.
Riley Gaines shares the title with Lia Thomas, the first openly transgender woman to win a medal after 'she' won the 500-yard freestyle event. Gaines learned that the fifth-place trophy would go to Lia Thomas instead of her, despite Thomas not being biologically female.
The 23-year-old swimmer felt she had had enough and retired from competitive swimming to fight for women's rights in sports. Riley Gaines has been campaigning against the inclusion of transgender athletes in women's sports ever since. She has had some success in blocking athletes like Lia Thomas from swimming at the Paris Olympics.
In March 2024, Riley Gaines was one of 16 female athletes who sued the National Collegiate Athletic Association [NCAA] over the inclusion of transgender athletes in women's sports.
