Riley Gaines Talks To WV Girls About Transgender Athlete Protest: 'Not Transphobic, Doing What's Right'
Last month, a United States Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a West Virginia law that bars biological boys from competing on girls' sports teams cannot be enforced with regard to a 13-year-old who competes on the girls' track and field team at the athlete's middle school.
The athlete was allowed to continue competing following the ruling, and five girls from an opposing school "stepped out" of the ensuing track meet to protest the inclusion of that athlete – a meet in which the transgender athlete won the shot put event.
The five girls who protested were subsequently suspended for the next track and field meet by their head coach. The West Virginia Attorney General filed a lawsuit on their behalf, and the court ruled that the girls must be allowed to compete.
It's since come out, in a separate lawsuit, that a teammate of the transgender athlete alleges sexual harassment from the transgender athlete, including very graphic and sexual remarks towards female teammates.
On the latest episode of "Gaines for Girls" – an OutKick podcast hosted by Riley Gaines, the most prominent voice in the country for protecting women's sports – Gaines spoke to four of the five girls who protested during that West Virginia middle school track and field meet.
Riley Gaines and Emmy Salerno, one of five West Virginia middle school athletes who protested the inclusion of a transgender (biological male) opponent at a track and field meet.
The girls say that they do not regret their actions and encourage other women and girls to do the same.
"A lot of schools from our district started saying things about it, saying that we shouldn't have done that and that we're just letting our teammates down," one of the girls said. "And we pretty much just ignored them because we know what's right, and we know what we're what we're doing is right."
"I feel like if everyone steps out, then it will finally open everybody's eyes and realize that this is wrong and that something needs to change," another girl added.
RELATED: Oregon Columnist Furious With People Who Think Boys Winning Girls' Races Is Unfair
One of the biggest points of pushback from people who support allowing biological males in girls and women's sports is that this doesn't really happen that often, so don't worry about it. Except, this does happen, and it's happening more and more.
The girls performed their protest to draw attention to that exact fact.
"There are people out there who [are saying], ‘This isn’t happening …. you're just being a bigot,'" another one of the West Virginia girls said. "But the more we stand up, the more that we can show people it is happening."
A West Virginia middle school athlete "steps out" during a track and field meet to protest the inclusion of a biological male in a girls' competition, a competition that the male won.
One of the scare tactics that the proponents of allowing biological males into women's sports often use is to label people who promote protecting women's sports as "bigots" or "tranphobes." But that's not the case at all, as these girls said.
"I still love those people, and I don't want to hurt their feelings in any way," one of the girls stated. "That's why we did this in such a respectful manner… We're not transphobic."
"I don't think that we're transphobic for standing up for what's right," another added. "And if that's what they're going to call us, then it's just small-minded people that do not care about the well-being of women."
Really powerful words from these brave young female athletes.
WATCH:
You can watch the full episode of the latest "Gaines for Girls" here and all episodes are available on OutKick.
Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.
