Riley Gaines has, for years, fought tooth and nail to keep trans athletes out of women's sports ... so now that Lia Thomas' records have been wiped clean by UPenn, how does the star college swimmer-turned-activist feel about the news?
00:00Just speaking personally, of course, this has been my mission these past three years to get any sort of accountability, responsibility, and I think more so even transparency.
00:13And I think that's shown through the personalized apologies that UPenn will be issuing from any institution or any person, any of the so-called leaders who have perpetrated what I would call some of the most horrific abuse and mistreatment and emotional blackmail.
00:30On, I guess, against women that we have seen certainly in recent years.
00:35So I am ecstatic. I'm over the moon. I am so excited.
00:39I'm a bit cynical, truthfully, as I don't believe that University of Pennsylvania necessarily approaches this conversation in good faith.
00:48Again, I say that as having pushed for this the past three years, this was never something they were willing to do.
00:53Granted, they have one hundred and seventy five million dollars hanging over their head that they would lose out on if they weren't willing to do this.
01:00So maybe that amount of money can make anyone grow a spine.
01:03But nonetheless, it is a huge win.
01:06I'm certainly waiting for my apology.
01:08And of course, I would be remiss if I did not take a second to just acknowledge and congratulate the rightful national champion,
01:16national champion in the women's five hundred freestyle that most of America, I would say everyone,
01:23every American, at least with common sense, recognized back in twenty twenty two.
01:27But now the record books also have to recognize that national champion being Emma Wyatt.
01:32So this is big news.
01:33Hopefully it sets a precedent for every institution, every public official as well to to now have to follow.
01:41So long as, again, you know, they're not willing to put themselves in a position of facing any sort of public scrutiny,
01:48legal scrutiny or scrutiny from the Trump administration.
01:50So I'm thrilled.
01:52Riley, is this a is this an inflection point?
01:56Is is this a moment that years down the line we can look back and say, OK, this is when things really changed?
02:02Is this an outlier?
02:03How important is this aside from just you, Penn and the record and the champion now?
02:11How important is this moment in the whole realm of this this larger battle?
02:15It's huge.
02:16I don't think there has been another institution that has outwardly been willing to say we were wrong.
02:22This was a farce from its inception.
02:23And that's what this message is by, of course, revoking the titles that Thomas stole from deserving women.
02:30It's indicating, of course, that trans women are not, in fact, women.
02:34They are men.
02:34That's what University of Pennsylvania is saying here.
02:36That's what the Trump administration is saying.
02:38That's what I've been saying again for the past three years now.
02:41That's not to be hateful.
02:43That's not to be mean.
02:44That's not to be bigoted or any of the words they will try to throw your way to deter you from speaking about this,
02:49speaking at least the truth about this.
02:51Again, it's rooted in reality.
02:54This is a six foot four man with like size 15 feet who is on the block just a few lanes over for me.
03:00This was never a woman.
03:02He will never be a woman.
03:04Again, that's not to say he can't live his life as he pleases.
03:07But we as women do not consent to allowing him in our locker rooms or taking away our rightful podium spots, championships, trophies, the list goes on.
03:19So I do think this is an inflection point.
03:22Again, justice is being served to publicly have to apologize.
03:26That's pretty groveling.
03:28Again, we would not have.
03:29I mean, we didn't see this in 2020, 2021, 2022.
03:33It's it shows the societal shift again.
03:36Again, how how the masses feel about this issue.
03:39And I think it shows strong leadership that we have seen from the Trump administration, from Secretary McMahon as well.
03:45So I'm thrilled about this and I hope we see more wins.
03:48I hope the NCAA follows suit.
03:50I hope we see public officials again, people like Governor Newsom, people like Governor Mills of Maine, who have been very open and public in their dissent of abiding by Title IX.
04:01I hope this now sends a very clear message.
04:04If you don't follow federal law, federal funds will be stripped, which is exactly what should happen.
04:10You mentioned the president, President Trump.
04:13Obviously, if President Trump had not won in November, this would not be happening.
04:18I think everyone could probably agree on that.
04:21How you know, I suppose I'm thankful is the word.
04:25How how just satisfied are you that that he is the one that won the election and just kind of thinking about what this might be like today?
04:33Obviously, we probably would not be talking.
04:35We certainly would not be talking about this if Kamala Harris had won the election.
04:40It's a scary thought, truthfully.
04:42And I say this as a woman to think of a future where Kamala Harris or anyone from the current Democratic Party, any person that could have propped up would be president now.
04:54I mean, we're talking here in July of 2025.
04:57It's a scary thought.
04:58There is one party, one political party, and I hate this.
05:02I hate that it has become this partisan, polarized issue in this manner when in reality it's really not a political issue.
05:11Inevitably, it's become one because there's one political party that has taken every opportunity to champion women, to fight for our rights to equal opportunity, equality, fight for our rights to safety, fight for our rights to privacy.
05:24In areas of undressing, and it's not the Democratic Party.
05:27So I'm thrilled.
05:29I got to be at that executive order signing when Donald Trump signed the executive order barring men from participating in women's sports back in February, at least within any educational program that receives federal funds.
05:39And it was one of the most amazing things because President Trump, as he was signing this, he was surrounded by a sea of young girls, like five, six, seven, eight years old.
05:49And they're smiling ear to ear, and they've got their big bows in their hair that they wear on the soccer field, and they've got their uniforms on or their jerseys on.
05:56And I look back at those pictures or those visuals that surface following the signing, and I look at that photo and I think, that is who Democrats are fighting against, not Donald Trump.
06:07They're fighting against those young little girls.
06:09They're fighting against their future to where they can call themselves champions.
06:14Being now seven months pregnant with a daughter of my own, I mean, that is what I'm fighting for.
06:19That's what President Trump is fighting for, Secretary McMahon, Attorney General Bondi, who have all been fantastic on this issue.
06:24It's about the next generation, so to have a leader, a commander-in-chief who is so willing to act, of course, swiftly, decisively, and again, with transparency, which is exactly what the American people voted for, is vindicating.
06:39It's refreshing, to say the least.
06:42I'm so grateful.
06:43Just two quick ones for you.
06:45I was just going to ask, as somebody who, in a matter of months here, two months or so, is going to give birth to a daughter, and with mom being this incredible athlete, I'm sure your daughter, should she choose to, is going to be a pretty formidable athlete.
07:02Does it give you comfort, Riley, to know that you are bringing your daughter into the world now where this is the situation, as opposed to what the situation was yesterday morning?
07:13Look, if it were up to President Trump, my daughter would have a future, again, where she can call herself a champion.
07:22There's still work to be done.
07:24Of course, as I said, the NCAA has not yet followed suit.
07:28There are definitely still bad actors out there.
07:30But because of President Trump's leadership, and again, him holding the bad actors accountable, it does make me hopeful.
07:39I feel more hopeful now than I have felt at any point over the past, again, speaking personally, three years that I've been on this mission to restore fairness and sanity in women's sports and beyond.
07:51So with leadership like that, of course, I feel hopeful for my daughter's future, and I can't wait to welcome her into this world.
07:58Last one, anytime anyone speaks about, and I hesitate to even call it a polarizing topic, because I think we've seen that majority, a strong majority of the country feels the way you feel about this topic, Riley.
08:13But the people who are on the other side of things, they obviously have put up a very formidable fight.
08:19And because of that, you receive a lot of messages, a lot of people saying things to you.
08:24How personally gratifying is it, just from a personal level, to be here now after everything that you've done?
08:32You know, at any point over these past three years, I've never let the negativity get to me.
08:38I think for a couple reasons.
08:39Number one, of course, my faith, knowing that, I mean, of course, I'm standing for objective truth.
08:45But I think more importantly, standing for biblical truth, and it goes back to the first book.
08:48It's very, very clear of the Bible.
08:50He made the male and female intentionally and uniquely in his perfect image.
08:54And how amazing is it that we have a creator who doesn't make mistakes?
08:56So my faith, number one, but knowing you're on the right side of history, like, that's never been something that I've pondered that has been wavering for me.
09:07So knowing that, it's easy for me to get the backlash that I do.
09:12I read it.
09:14It's like in one ear, out the other, right over my head.
09:17Like, it just doesn't hurt my feelings, maybe the way that the other side is intending it to.
09:23So, again, it's it's I'm continuing on with full steam ahead, regardless of of how this issue is viewed by the masses.
09:34Again, it is nice to now have what feels like, I would say, 90 percent.
09:40The media says maybe 70, 30, 80, 20.
09:43I would say this is a 90-10 issue, which there are very, very few cultural issues that garner that much support on one side.
09:52Of course, that's fantastic.
09:53And again, it represents this cultural shift.
09:55People have had enough.
09:56People are now finally becoming bold enough, brave enough to say the controversial thing that men cannot become women.
10:02Men can't get pregnant.
10:03Tampons don't belong in boys' bathrooms, whatever it is.
10:06But even if it wasn't widely and publicly accepted and celebrated now to say that, I'd still be saying it because I know it's the right thing.
10:16That's how secure I am with myself and how secure I am with this argument.
10:19So to anyone who wants to come to my page to leave a hate comment, I might block you.
10:26I do I do enjoy blocking people, but not because it bothers me, more so because I don't really want someone to feel as if they have the liberty of, again, a grown adult coming on another grown adult's page and making some sort of personal comment, especially, again, as it pertains to now my daughter.
10:43So I might block you, but it's not because it hurts my feelings.
