Riley Gaines visits NDSU
FARGO, N.D. (KVRR) – Turning Point USA brought speaker Riley Gaines to campus. Gaines is an activist seeking to “reclaim feminism.”
Gaines has spoken across the country about barring transgender women from women’s sports, on the basis of safety and fairness.
Gaines was a college swimmer at the University of Kentucky, who came to prominence for criticizing Lia Thomas’s participation in the NCAA Women’s Division One Swimming Championships. Thomas is a transgender who won the 500m Freestyle in 2022, placing 6th in overall points.
Gaines says that trans women competing in women’s sports is unfair and unsafe for female participants.
“I believe more than anything that safety of course should be number one than a born concern and secondly, fairness.“
Gaines believes that it is unsafe for biological women to compete with trans women because trans women are larger and stronger.
“In basketball, are there categories for height? No, we have categories in place for a reason. We have women’s basketball. We have men’s basketball for a reason. Ultimately, ask yourself. Why are these categories in place?”
Gaines also noted that while there is next to no data or statistics to support her claim that trans women have an unfair advantage competing against cis women, that it shouldn’t matter.
“My proposition to you saying, you know what’s the evidence here? First of all it shouldn’t take evidence for women to have rights.“
The event, which was sponsored by the Leadership Institute and Turning Point USA at NDSU, filled the Gate City Bank Auditorium to capacity. It featured signs with the slogans, “There are only two sexes” and “Dump your socialist girlfriend.”
There were some protesters in attendance, holding up signs during Gaines speech reading “No TERFs on Bison turf,” and “I support sore losers” a reference to the fact that Gaines only started speaking out about trans athletes after losing to Thomas.
One protestor outside the event said that they were there to support trans students.
“This is really about dividing working people and I just want to be here to be supportive of trans people, but really to be supportive of everyone and remind everybody, we’re actually all in this together.“
