HBO host and comedian Bill Maher asked women’s sports activist Riley Gaines point-blank for details about transgender swimmer Lia Thomas’ genitals.
Gaines said she and fellow competitors were forced to share a locker room with Thomas, a man who identifies as a woman, during the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championship in March 2022. She emotionally testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in June about the “traumatizing” experience of Thomas exposing his genitals in front of the women.
“How big is her cock?” Maher asked Gaines point-blank. “You’ve seen her cock, right?”
“We all did,” Gaines replied.
“Well I don’t want to see it. I just want to hear it described,” he said.
Maher tried correcting Gaines when she referred to Thomas as a six-foot four inch male by saying he is a “transgender woman.” Gaines then pushed back against Maher labeling Thomas as a “transgender woman” and “living life as a woman.”
“I’ll be frank here. I don’t use she/her pronouns when referring to Thomas and I call it a male. I think even using the term ‘trans woman’ is giving Thomas some of our language as women and I think trans woman is a subset of male, I do not believe that trans women are women. So I’m saying that upfront, on the record,” Gaines said.
Maher said he is on the same page, but argued many do suffer from gender dysphoria and want to be the opposite sex from which they were born. He agreed with Gaines that being a “transgender woman” is not the same as being a female and argued many women’s rights are in jeopardy. (RELATED: ‘Why Were You Looking’ At Lia Thomas’ Penis? College Student Asks Riley Gaines)
“I forget what the original question was, but I think it was describe that cock!” he said.
“I was trying to run away from this question. Okay, a six-foot four male, use your imagination,” Gaines said.
“But that does not mean big cock. Cock size is not ever, usually, I know from women who … I know from girls who have dated seven footers. The seven footer sometimes has a very small penis. Just because this person is 6’4, doesn’t mean they’ve got a great big johnson,” Maher said.
Gaines said she attempted to avoid looking at Thomas’ genitalia, but cannot “unsee it.” She compared being in the locker room with a male to being in a “a bad car wreck.”
Gaines tied for fifth place with Thomas in the 200-meter freestyle during the NCAA Women’s Swimming Championship in March 2022. The NCAA officials instructed that Thomas has to hold the trophy in the two athletes’ photograph, despite having tied.
The former college swimmer said the NCAA tried to make the female swimmers feel “guilty” over their discomfort with Thomas changing in front of them.