Riley Gaines is ecstatic about UPenn’s agreement to resolve Title IX violations related to transgender swimmer Lia Thomas competing on the women’s team, but she also realizes it is just one battle won in the fight for sanity in women’s sports.
Gaines, the host of OutKick’s ‘Gaines For Girls’ podcast, tied Thomas for fifth place in the 200-yard freestyle at the 2022 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships and has been fighting for female athletes along with women’s and girls’ sports virtually ever since.
She joined ‘Don’t @ Me With Dan Dakich‘ on Wednesday, the day after UPenn agreed to a resolution deal with the Department of Education, to share her thoughts about the monumental moment.
“I’m over the moon with the news that we heard from Secretary McMahon yesterday,” Gaines told Dakich. “This has something that we have been – and when I say we I don’t just mean me and female swimmers – I mean people like you, Dan. We have been pleading, demanding that those responsible take some form of accountability and so that’s what we’re seeing here.
“Of course, it doesn’t necessarily undo the harm and the abuse that the mistreatment that they caused to women, but it is the first step in taking, again, that responsibility and accountability, especially as it pertains to these apologies.”
Riley Is Calling On The Ncaa To Follow UPENNS Lead
Gaines went on to say that there needs to be some form of “retribution” as it pertains to the NCAA as it stood idly as Thomas competing against female swimmers as a biological male. The former University of Kentucky swimmer also cited a lawsuit against the NCAA that she, and other former and current female college athletes, are currently a part of that is exclusively being funded by the Independent Council on Women’s Sports (ICONS).
As part of the resolution deal, UPenn will adopt definitions for male and female consistent with biological sex; restore stolen records and titles to female athletes; and, issue personal apologies to each impacted female swimmer.
