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"I've been spit on, assaulted and held to ransom for four hours": Riley Gaines shares the abuse she receives for speaking on transgender issues
Riley Gaines, who has been an ardent advocate against the notion of transgender athletes competing in the women's category, shared a few unpleasant experiences she had to go through while fighting for the safety of women in sports.
The former swimmer recently panned a transgender athlete, Tate Drageset, who verbally committed to the University of Washington to earn one of the twelve D1 volleyball scholarships assigned to women in June this year.
Gaines accused the trans athlete of taking away the opportunity meant for female athletes and advised the university to revoke the scholarship. However, the former NCAA swimmer received a huge backlash after the rebuke. Undeterred by this, Gaines, who has consistently stood by her cause shared a video, affirming that she has always confronted such incidents of abuse.
"I can go on a whole rant about things that I personally experienced in terms of backlash. You know I've drinks poured on me. I've had glass bottles thrown at me. I've been spit on. I've been assaulted and held to ransom for four hours where these protestors demanded that if I wanted to make it home to see my family safely again I had to pay them money. The list goes on...death threats, people showing up to my house, drones flying above my house," Gaines added.
Apart from discussing the abuse, Gaines also shed light on why more female athletes are reluctant to challenge the notion. She highlighted that their genuine fear of risks and threats holds them back from speaking up.
"I do claim to speak for the overwhelming majority of us who are scared and the parents who are scared to defend their daughters, the coaches who are scared to stand up for their athletes because they don't want to lose their jobs, and the threats, the risk, they are very real and I've seen them play out," Gaines expressed.
"I will personally pay them the prize money they're missing out on," Riley Gaines assures monetary assistance to female athletes who withdraw from competing against the trans athletes
Riley Gaines has consistently encouraged female athletes to withdraw from competitions where trans athletes compete.
In a recent instance, where two trans cyclists secured the top spots on the podium in the women's category at the Illinois State Cyclocross Championships, she urged the female athletes to refuse to compete against the transgender athletes stating her willingness to offer the prize money as compensation.
"Any woman who concedes and doesn't compete, I will personally pay them the prize money they're missing out on. Stop participating in the farce," Riley Gaines wrote.
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