Riley Gaines is on point here.
When it comes to transgender athletes (biological men) competing in women’s sports, Riley Gaines certainly isn’t a fan. But U.S. Women’s National Team (USWNT) superstars Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan are on the opposite side of the debate. And recently, Gaines blasted the two soccer elites for their stance.
Gaines has been personally affected by having to compete against a transgender athlete, while Morgan and Rapinoe have not. And not only did the former Kentucky swimmer have to take on trans athlete Lia Thomas — she also had to share a locker room with Thomas. So, Gaines has actually witnessed the issues that come from a trans athlete being involved with female sports.
“It’s disingenuous and it’s virtue signaling. They want to be seen as kind. They want to be seen as inclusive, but they know in their hearts, every single person knows they wouldn’t have had the opportunities and the success they had without the women’s sport and category,” Gaines said Thursday on “Fox & Friends” regarding Rapinoe and Morgan.
“Now they’ve achieved what they’ve achieved. They’ve accomplished what they wanted to accomplish, so they don’t care,” Gaines continued. “They would rather give girls up, give away our opportunities to be seen as kind and inclusive when in reality this isn’t inclusive, it’s exclusive.”
Back in April, Rapinoe was one of 40 athletes to sign a letter to House lawmakers to oppose the Protection of Girls and Women in Sports Act, showing her support for trans athletes to be included in women’s sports.
Rapinoe also had this to say in June about trans kids and youth sports during the anniversary of Title IX. (And no, Rapinoe doesn’t have any children):
“I would also encourage everyone out there who is afraid someone’s going to have an unfair advantage over their kid to really take a step back and think what are we actually talking about here. We’re talking about people’s lives. I’m sorry, your kid’s high school volleyball team just isn’t that important,” Rapinoe told Time Magazine.
Morgan, who has a three-year-old daughter, also spoke about trans kids competing in youth sports. Rather than it being based on biological sex, Morgan said children should play sports according to the gender they identify with.
“The inclusion of trans kids in sports is the inclusion of kids in sports,” Morgan told reporters back in February. “Everyone should have the ability to play sport. And the fact that it’s being taken into politics so big is really sad. And I think it’s at the cost of trans kids’ lives.”
@Riley_Gaines_ calls out ‘disingenuous’ US soccer stars Megan Rapinoe, Alex Morgan for stance on trans athletes https://t.co/JvjWe5Ro3J
— Fox News (@FoxNews) June 23, 2023
Riley Gaines is so right, especially when it comes to Alex Morgan.
I’m a fan of Alex, but what she’s saying is definitely something I disagree with. But I personally feel like — what Riley said — Alex is doing it more so to be viewed as being nice. I don’t even think Alex Morgan actually believes in what she says: You can tell by that polished PR answer. But with Rapinoe, she’s going all-out — she definitely believes in what she’s pushing. I mean, dang, she’s even co-signing a letter to Congress and everything. But Alex, it’s all PR, man.
I think boys should play against boys, and girls should play against girls … but I’m just old fashioned like that, I guess.