"Insane"- Riley Gaines slams high school volleyball team for benching female player to include a reported transgender athlete

By Animesh Pandey

Modified Nov 20, 2024 10:05 GMT

Riley Gaines recently called out a high school volleyball team for benching a female player to include a reported transgender athlete. The 24-year-old social activist slammed the high school authorities for prioritizing the participation of a transgender player over the safety of other female athletes.

According to the media reports, Mary Kopf, a student at the Clarkstown Senior High School North, was benched in favor of a transgender player. Kopf called out the school officials for prioritizing a transgender player's participation. In her words,

“Why are we pretending men don’t have advantages in women’s sports?”

Kopf also revealed that the school officials, especially the team coach, threatened to evict players if they dared to raise their voices against the situation. Gaines called out the administration in her post, as she posted,

"The feelings of ONE man mattered more than the safety of ALL girls. Insane."

Gaines had also recently called out Somerset Berkeley Public School for including a boy in the girls' field hockey match against the Norwood Mustangs, where the Somerset team won by 2-0. Gaines posted on her X handle [formerly Twitter],

"Nothing says progress like a boy scoring the only goals on a girls’ team to win a state championship."

Riley Gaines has been campaigning against the deliberate inclusion of transgender athletes into women's sports since 2022. She supported the boycott of San Jose State Spartans over their decision to continue with Blaire Fleming, who is reportedly a transgender.

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Riley Gaines' fight for women's sports

Riley Gaines and her fight for women's sports [Image for Representational Purposes[Image Source : Getty]

In 2022, Riley Gaines, who represented the University of Kentucky at the NCAA Swimming Championships, came out strongly against the bias shown towards transgender swimmer Lia Thomas, who was jointly placed in the fifth position alongside Gaines.

Gaines' protests gained partial success when World Aquatics announced in June 2022 that transgender swimmers would be banned from participating in elite women's events, including the Olympics. Thomas protested against the decision, only to lose her appeal in June 2024, when the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld the verdict of World Aquatics.

Since then, Gaines has been persistently campaigning against the inclusion of transgender athletes in women's sports at any level. The 24-year-old social activist has filed a lawsuit against the NCAA, along with 15 other athletes, for forcefully imposing transgender players on the women's sports.

Apart from the above, Gaines also protested against Algerian boxer Imane Khelif's participation at the Paris Olympics, whose gender identity continues to be a source of controversy. A couple of weeks ago, when a leaked French-Algerian medical report claimed to reveal the gender identity of Khelif, Gaines called out people supporting the Algerian boxer, as she posted on her X handle,

"Remember the man who won an Olympic gold medal in women’s boxing? His medical reports show he has XY chromosomes, male testosterone levels, testicles, & a micropenis. But that never mattered—they believe that words & feelings make you woman, not biology."

Riley Gaines also campaigned against the Title IX changes imposed by the outgoing US administration. The proposed changes claimed to promote diversity by ensuring additional security for LGBTQ+ athletes.

However, critics led by Gaines argued that this was just an excuse to make things worse for female athletes, denying them any right to protest against the inclusion of transgender athletes in women's sports.