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Riley Gaines shreds Dem witness’s claim about Serena and Venus Williams, effortlessly dominates hearing

June 22, 2023 | | Print Article

Former college swimmer turned women’s athletes champion Riley Gaines executed laps around progressive Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson on Wednesday during a U.S. Senate hearing on LGBTQ rights.

In an emotional opening statement, Gaines recalled being forced to not only compete against biological male swimmer, Leah Thomas, but to “share a locker room” with him.

“In addition to being forced to give up our awards and our titles and our opportunities, the NCAA forced me and my female swimmers to share a locker room with Thomas, a 6-foot-4, 22-year-old male equipped with and exposing male genitalia,” she said. “Let me be clear about this: we were not forewarned we would be sharing a locker room. No one asked for our consent, and we did not give our consent.”

(Video: YouTube)

“If nothing else,” she told the Senate Judiciary Committee, “I truly hope how you can see this is a violation of our right to privacy and how some of us have felt uncomfortable, embarrassed, and even traumatized by this experience.”

Senator John Kennedy (R-La.) pressed Robinson on her belief that transgender “females” are the same as biological women.

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“You don’t believe that a biological male has a physical advantage in sports over a biological female?” he asked.

“Not as a definitive statement,” Robinson replied.

“I can say that, you know, there’s been this news article about men that think that they can beat Serena Williams in tennis,” she continued. “Right? That they think that they could actually score a point on her, and it’s just not the case.”

Kennedy asked Gaines for her opinion on Robinson’s statement, and Gaines promptly destroyed the Democrat’s smug claim.

“Both Serena and Venus [Williams] lost to the 203rd-ranked male tennis player,” she stated, adding that the Williams sisters are “phenoms for women.”

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Gaines also took aim at Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), who asked, “What message does this send to trans individuals?”

“My combat to that,” she stated, “is, what message does this send to women, to young girls who are denied these opportunities? So easily, their rights to privacy and safety thrown out of the window to protect a small population, protect one group, as long as they’re happy?”

“What about us?” she asked. “That is the overall general consensus of how we all felt in that locker room.”

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In another exchange, Gaines called the “far-left gender ideology” nothing less than “emotional blackmail.”

“If we do speak up… they will call you everything under the sun — whether it’s transphobic, homophobic, racist, white supremacists, domestic terrorists — they will throw them all at you in hopes to deter you. In hopes to silence you,” she told Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.).

“That is the emotional blackmail that is plaguing this country,” she stated.

Online, many are calling Gaines a “hero.”

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“Ms. Gaines is a hero to all!” one Twitter user exclaimed. “But especially fighting for young ladies that want to compete in sports!”

“Thank you, Riley, for speaking the truth,” tweeted another.

And according to a third, Gaines is, “The real champion.”

Melissa Fine
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