{"id":1422288,"date":"2025-02-19T12:08:16","date_gmt":"2025-02-19T12:08:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/?p=1422288"},"modified":"2025-02-19T12:08:16","modified_gmt":"2025-02-19T12:08:16","slug":"why-the-far-right-chose-riley-gaines-for-the-trans-sports-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/uncloseted\/why-the-far-right-chose-riley-gaines-for-the-trans-sports-debate\/","title":{"rendered":"Why the far-right chose Riley Gaines for the trans sports debate"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n
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Riley Gaines has become the darling of the far-right by using transphobia before science to make bank from attacking the community.<\/p>\n

THIS ARTICLE FIRST APPEARED ON\u00a0UNCLOSETED MEDIA<\/a>\u00a0A NEW INVESTIGATIVE LGBTQIA+ FOCUSSED NEWS PUBLICATION.<\/strong><\/p>\n

WORDS HOPE PISONI<\/strong>
\nIMAGES GAGE SKIDMORE<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>

At the 2022 NCAA Division I Women\u2019s Swimming and Diving Championships, Riley Gaines\u2019 and Lia Thomas\u2019 teammates cheered from the sidelines as they watched the 200-yard freestyle. Gaines, the team captain swimming for the University of Kentucky, and Thomas, swimming for the University of Pennsylvania, tied for fifth place, both finishing the race in just under one minute and 44 seconds.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were all standing there cheering for [Gaines] on the podium and she just looked so pissed off,\u201d says one of Gaines\u2019 former teammates. \u201cI was looking at my teammate and I was like, \u2018Dude, this is the worst thing that could have happened.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Thomas was fresh off of becoming<\/a> the first trans athlete to earn an NCAA Division I title and had become the target of controversy throughout the season, with organisations like Save Women\u2019s Sports and Concerned Women of America using her success as a rallying cry against trans women\u2019s participation in sports. Gaines\u2019 teammate, who asked to remain anonymous due to concerns about grad school applications, told Uncloseted Media<\/em> that tensions had already been high prior to the competition but reached a boiling point when Gaines and Thomas tied.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe, for months leading up to that, had this bias in her head, and I think that was the last straw that gave her the push to speak up about it,\u201d says Gaines\u2019 former teammate, adding that she could never have predicted that this would be the start of a lucrative career for her former captain.<\/p>\n

Less than a week after the race, Gaines began skyrocketing to right-wing fame when she was profiled in an article<\/a> by right-wing commentary website The Daily Wire, where she criticised the NCAA for awarding Thomas a trophy before her.<\/h4>\n

\u201cThe more I thought about it, the more it fired me up,\u201d Gaines told the conservative media outlet founded by Ben Shapiro.<\/p>\n

<\/p>

The next month, she would testify<\/a> before the Kentucky senate in support of a bill that would ban trans women from women\u2019s sports. By May 2023, she had appeared on Fox News 29 times<\/a> and been hired<\/a> as an official spokesperson for the Independent Women\u2019s Forum (IWF), a far-right organisation known for anti-trans activism.<\/h4>\n

Since the infamous race against Thomas, she\u2019s sued the NCAA<\/a>, headlined nationwide speaking tours<\/a> and launched the Riley Gaines Center at the Leadership Institute<\/a>. This month, Gaines appeared at the signing<\/a> of Donald Trump\u2019s executive order banning trans women from women\u2019s sports, where he personally congratulated her for her activism and for being \u201cat the forefront\u201d of the issue.<\/p>\n

As Gaines\u2019 star has risen, her former teammate says it\u2019s become too much to stomach. \u201cI haven\u2019t followed her, and I\u2019ve tried to distance myself from it,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s just been insane how she has changed this narrative \u2026 into \u2018trans people shouldn\u2019t compete in sports.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Gaines\u2019 meteoric rise reflects a strategy that far-right groups, including the anti-LGBTQ hate group<\/a> Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), use to prop up young, primarily white, cisgender women and girls as figureheads in their movement to ban trans girls and women from sports.<\/h4>\n

While research surrounding trans women in sports is ongoing, Gaines and other right-wingers rarely cite it when pushing for laws that rollback trans rights. Instead, their rhetoric is fuelled by transphobia and fear-mongering about how trans girls and women are jeopardising the safety of cis females.<\/p>\n

This strategy seems to be working. Since 2020, 27 out of 50 states<\/a> have banned trans students from competing on teams matching their gender identity.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a whole right-wing media machinery and money that started strategically using people like Riley Gaines to make these arguments around Title IX and [the idea] that trans athletes are \u2018destroying\u2019 women\u2019s sports,\u201d says Mia Fischer, a professor of communications and women & gender studies at University of Colorado Denver. \u201cAnti-trans activism has made sports a key issue, and they\u2019ve very effectively used it as a trojan horse to attack other trans rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>

How Sports Became a Target<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Openly trans athletes are exceedingly rare<\/a>, with fewer than ten<\/a> competing in the NCAA, according to the association\u2019s president. Despite this, leaked<\/a> emails show that, as early as 2014, ADF was coordinating with the American College of Pediatricians \u2013 another anti-LGBTQ hate group<\/a> \u2013 to produce pseudoscientific<\/a> studies.<\/p>\n

In one email, ADF requests a report that \u201cmake[s] the point<\/a> that interpreting Title IX<\/a> to include protections for \u2018gender identity\u2019 will harm girls by allowing boys to displace girls on competitive sports teams.\u201d This argument would form the backbone of their legal and rhetorical strategy for pushing trans sports bans.<\/p>\n

Multiple trans athletes told Uncloseted Media<\/em> that their presence in sports was, for a long time, mostly irrelevant. But Fischer says that began to change in 2017 when two Connecticut trans girls drew controversy after multiple first- and second-place wins in the state\u2019s high school track competitions, and some parents raised concerns about fairness.<\/p>\n

ADF \u2013 a group that has<\/a> advocated for conversion therapy and against marriage equality \u2013 jumped on this opportunity and helped the families of three cisgender Connecticut runners file a lawsuit<\/a> in 2020, arguing that allowing trans girls to compete on girls\u2019 sports teams violates Title IX. The plaintiffs in the ongoing<\/a> lawsuit were quickly promoted by ADF and allied groups.<\/p>\n

As with Gaines, they testified<\/a> in favour<\/a> of other states\u2019 anti-trans legislation, published op-eds<\/a> and appeared on Fox News<\/em><\/a>. One plaintiff\u2019s mother, who started a petition<\/a> to change Connecticut\u2019s policies around trans athletes, was featured on a panel<\/a> with the Heritage Foundation \u2013 the organisation that penned Project 2025 \u2013 to discuss the importance of banning trans women from sports.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was a really scary time,\u201d says Andraya Yearwood, one of the trans runners from Connecticut, adding that she received sustained harassment both online and from some parents. However, she said most teammates and competitors were supportive. \u201cI knew people didn\u2019t want me to run, but I didn\u2019t know that it would reach such heights.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yearwood remembers online strangers telling her to quit running, calling her a cheater and sending her posts and videos<\/a> that misgender her and call for her to be banned from her sport. At one track meet, she recalls hearing cheers from the crowd after she was removed from a race for a false start, and she says one woman verbally accosted her.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just stood there for a few seconds. I didn\u2019t say anything,\u201d Yearwood told Uncloseted Media<\/em>. \u201cI was too stunned to speak. Then I turned around and I kept walking. I just was like, \u2018I\u2019m not gonna pay you any mind. I have better things to worry about, like my race.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Riley Gaines\u2019 Rise to Stardom<\/strong><\/h2>\n

As ADF\u2019s lawsuit moved through the courts, Gaines\u2019 star rose. She successfully lobbied<\/a> local governments for sports bans, was featured in campaign ads for Rand Paul<\/a> and Ron DeSantis<\/a> and landed a podcast called \u201cGaines for Girls\u201d on Fox Nation<\/em>. She also worked<\/a> with International Chess Federation leadership to ensure trans women would be banned from their women\u2019s events.<\/p>\n

Gaines\u2019 rhetoric wasn\u2019t always so extreme. In her initial appearance in The Daily Wire<\/em>, she consistently genders Lia Thomas correctly.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am in full support of her and full support of her transition and her swimming career,\u201d Gaines told The Daily Wire<\/em>, \u201cbecause there\u2019s no doubt that she works hard too, but she\u2019s just abiding by the rules that the NCAA put in place, and that\u2019s the issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

But as the far-right rewarded her, Gaines\u2019 rhetoric became increasingly fueled by transphobia. Today, she misgenders trans people and laments watching Thomas \u201csteal trophies from girls I\u2019d known my whole life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLia 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,\u201d she tweeted<\/a> in March 2023, almost exactly a year after her tying match.<\/p>\n

This switch-up is not unique. Yearwood says prior to the Connecticut lawsuit, she had been friendly with Chelsea Mitchell, one of the plaintiffs. Weeks before the lawsuit was filed, Mitchell congratulated Yearwood in an Instagram message shared with Uncloseted Media<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat really shocked me,\u201d Yearwood says. \u201c [It] was a bit confusing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mitchell did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople become more ideologically indoctrinated,\u201d says Fischer. \u201cThe influence of various anti-LGBTQ Christian conservative groups on these athletes becomes really clear, in that their views become more narrow, exclusionary, or even radical fundamentalist.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also a financial incentive for Gaines to lean into this rhetoric. Gaines was paid<\/a> nearly $12,000 by Ron DeSantis\u2019 presidential campaign in 2023, and her centre was awarded $20,000 for collaborating on a \u201cReal Women of America<\/a>\u201d pinup calendar with Conservative Dad\u2019s Ultra Right Beer \u2013 which the founders describe as an \u201canti-woke\u201d beer company.<\/h4>\n

Gaines has also participated in paid speaking engagements at over 50 college campuses<\/a>, landed two<\/a> separate<\/a> book deals and has her own merch collection<\/a> with the Leadership Institute, with \u201cSave Women\u2019s Sports\u201d and \u201cBOYcott\u201d t-shirts selling for as much as $40.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s developing her stance according to who\u2019s supporting her,\u201d says Gaines\u2019 former teammate. \u201cWith her sponsorships and with the big people commenting saying \u2018you\u2019re doing great things,\u2019 I think it was inevitable that it would have led to that.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Fox News<\/em>, Gaines has even gone so far as to bully and misgender children, referring to an eighth-grade trans girl<\/a> as a \u201cmediocre man.\u201d<\/h4>\n

Later in 2022, Gaines became an official spokeswoman for the IWF, an organisation founded<\/a> in the 1990s by a group of conservative women who were working to defend then-Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas from allegations that he had persistently sexually harassed a former advisor. Over time, they grew into a broader conservative women\u2019s group with the help of significant funding<\/a> from right-wing<\/a> donors<\/a>. Recently, their primary focus has been anti-trans advocacy.<\/p>\n

IWF is part of the Our Bodies, Our Sports<\/a> coalition, a collection of organizations that sponsors Gaines\u2019 \u201cTake Back Title IX\u201d college campus tours, where she gives speeches advocating against trans women in sports.<\/p>\n

In one speech at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo<\/a>, Gaines said that calling for trans women to be banned from women\u2019s sports is \u201chow anyone with any amount of brain activity would probably comprehend this information.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Leadership Institute and Manipulating the Narrative<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In August 2023, Gaines launched<\/a> the Riley Gaines Center at the Leadership Institute with the goal of \u201cprotecting women\u2019s sports.\u201d The Leadership Institute, a member of Project 2025\u2019s advisory board and funded by<\/a> the Charles Koch Foundation, is known for training<\/a> conservatives to be effective activists and politicians. Notable alumni include Mitch McConnell and Mike Pence.<\/p>\n

Last summer, the centre launched an online training<\/a>, where Gaines details<\/a> how to use Title IX to \u201cDefend Women’s Sports and Stand Against Gender Ideology.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBiological sex has been replaced in favour of transgenderism,\u201d Gaines says in the video. \u201c[People are] being silenced for believing in the biological reality that there are only two sexes.\u201d Subsequent videos instruct viewers how Title IX can be used to \u201csilence\u201d or \u201ccensor\u201d students who engage in harmful rhetoric, like misgendering or deadnaming trans folks, and how students can instead use it to push back against this \u201ccensorship.\u201d<\/p>\n

The center also has a roster of young female ambassadors who<\/a>, like Gaines, have become influencers of the anti-trans movement. Among them are members of the Roanoke College Swim Team, who made headlines when they claimed they were pressured to accept a trans woman on their team. However, the College\u2019s administration released a statement<\/a> stating that the trans woman in question never joined the team and withdrew her request after receiving backlash.<\/p>\n

Despite this, the team appeared on stage<\/a> at one of Donald Trump\u2019s final 2024 election campaign rallies, where the president praised them for their protest. \u201cThe brave members of the swim team stood up to the transgender fanatics,\u201d Trump said<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Gaines herself also claims on her center\u2019s website<\/a> that she was forced to share a locker room with Thomas. \u201cWe weren\u2019t even forewarned that we would be forced to undress in front of a 6\u20194\u201d fully intact, 22-year-old male. As if that weren\u2019t enough, we were effectively silenced by our universities with threats and intimidation.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Gaines\u2019 former teammate says this is untrue. \u201cNCAA gave us a heads-up that all the locker rooms were going to be gender-neutral, and there were three locker rooms that we could have used \u2026 So Riley\u2019s villainising Lia with \u2018I was changing in the locker room when Lia walked in and stripped down,\u2019 and I\u2019m like, \u2018Riley, we knew this was a possibility.\u2019 Riley shaped the narrative in her way.\u201d<\/h4>\n

Uncloseted Media<\/em> reached out to Gaines via the Riley Gaines Center with an interview request and a list of questions but received no response.<\/p>\n

Cherrypicking White Cis Women <\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s clearly a lot of media training that these people have received,\u201d says Fischer, noting that the right-wing\u2019s selection of white, traditionally feminine girls and young women is likely intentional. \u201cIf we think about traditional gender norms, they fulfill all these signifiers that we traditionally associate with feminine white athletes. I think this is also why media then attaches to certain people easier than to others and is able to create this celebrity status around them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yearwood believes that anti-Black racism was an underlying element to the backlash she received, with many attacking her by playing on existing stereotypes of Black women as more masculine in contrast to their white counterparts.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause a lot of Black women in general are often hyper-masculinised in American culture, I think that also contributes to the scrutiny that we faced in high school,\u201d says Yearwood. \u201cThey had really focused on our muscle definition as we were running, and some of the comments were comparing us to other famous black athletes like Lebron James.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yearwood says most of the hate she has received has been from older people. She believes that is why there\u2019s so much focus by the right wing to find people like Gaines who can persuade younger generations to oppose trans women competing in sports.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s funny when grown adults target teenagers, so I don\u2019t think that would gain as much traction,\u201d says Yearwood.<\/p>\n

As Gaines\u2019 star continues to rise, Trump\u2019s recent executive order<\/a>, which empowers federal agencies to enforce a trans-exclusionary definition of Title IX in any institution that receives federal funding, can now deny trans athletes all over the country the opportunity to compete in sports.<\/p>\n

For Yearwood, the hate from the anti-trans movement and from influencers like Gaines was so intense that she chose not to continue running competitively in college.<\/p>\n

\u201cI spent months going back and forth about whether I wanted to do track, and after making the decision not to, it did feel like I was losing a part of me,\u201d says Yearwood. \u201cThere\u2019s still times that I do wish I could still run track, and still have that kind of camaraderie on a team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s note: <\/strong>Uncloseted Media<\/em> reached out to ADF and IWF for comment but received no response.<\/p>\n

If objective, nonpartisan, rigorous, LGBTQIA+ focussed journalism is important to you, please consider making a tax-deductible donation through our fiscal sponsor, Resource Impact, by clicking this button:<\/h4>\n

Donate to Uncloseted Media<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0   \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0   \u00a0 Riley Gaines has become the darling of the far-right by using transphobia before science to make bank from attacking the community. 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