Riley Gaines speaks out amid Donald Trump’s historic transgender sport ban

Riley Gaines has become the face of protecting female sportssince speaking out against Lia Thomas and now she’s weighed in on the ban.

American swimmer Riley Gaines has thanked US President Donald Trump for signing an executive order banning biological men from competing in women’s sports.

Gaines, who became the face of protecting female sports after speaking out against trans swimmer Lia Thomas, said she felt “cheated, betrayed, and violated” as a result of a non-biological woman being able to compete against her as she broke her silence about the historic ban.

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“I wish I could’ve told the girl in this photo what was to come in 2025,” Gaines posted on X, captioning a photo of herself next to Thomas at the tournament.

“She felt cheated, betrayed, and violated. I’m just glad that girl trusted God and took a leap of faith by stating the obvious when it wasn’t popular.”

“It was true then and it’s true now. He’s a man,” she added, referring to Thomas.

She also previously wrote on X: “Things could’ve been so different. Gender insanity was the final straw that brought a lot of moderates to the side of common sense. Specifically, I believe it was the issue of men in women’s sports. I’ve been living in a state of gratitude everyday since Nov 5th. Praise God.”

Gaines was present at the White House with President Trump when he signed an executive order banning males from female athletics.

Riley Gaines (right) spoke out against Lia Thomas (left) (Photo by Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Swimming for the University of Kentucky, Gaines and other female swimmers had to compete against Thomas.

And in a move that shook the world, Gaines and Thomas tied for fifth place in a race, but the trophy was given to only Thomas at the award ceremony, with the picture of a disgruntled Gaines standing next to Thomas going viral.

In the years since Gaines has been vocal about protecting women’s sports.

And her latest comments come as three former University of Pennsylvania women’s swimmers launched a lawsuit, alleging they suffered emotional trauma by having transgender swimmer Thomas as a teammate, as they called for the Ivy League to expunge Thomas’ records.

The three graduates allege Harvard University (their former school), the NCAA and the Ivy League Council of Presidents harassed, abused and violated federal laws when they allowed Thomas to compete on their team, according to the lawsuit obtained by Fox News.

“The UPenn administrators told the women that if anyone was struggling with accepting Thomas’ participation on the UPenn Women’s team, they should seek counselling and support from CAPS and the LBGTQ centre,” the lawsuit alleges.

Kaczorowski and Holmquist, who graduated in 2024, and Estabrook, a 2022 graduate, claimed they were “repeatedly emotionally traumatised” because Thomas was allowed to compete with them.

Riley Gaines was in attendance as President Trump signed the trans sport ban. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP)

They also claim school officials pushed their pro-trans ideology while Thomas was on the team.

Administrators allegedly invited the swimmers to a talk titled ‘Trans 101’ where they believed if they had a problem with a “trans-identifying male” on their team, they had psychological problems and needed to see a counsellor.

The swimmers also accused school officials of warning them against speaking out on Thomas or they’d be branded as a transphobe and that could result in them not finding jobs in the future.

Thomas, who competed for the UPenn Men’s Swimming and Diving team from 2017 to 2020 was introduced to the women’s team as their incoming teammate in 2019.

Thomas came in first in the 500-, 200- and 100-yard freestyle races, setting pool and Ivy League records.

Thomas broke several women’s records at the Ivy League Championship meet in 2022, which was hosted at Harvard University.

The lawsuit asks the judge to declare Thomas was ineligible to compete in the women’s races and to vacate the records.

– with the New York Post