Record-setting swimmer Riley Gaines, an outspoken critic of transgender athletes being permitted to compete in divisions they self-identify with, was violently assaulted at San Francisco State University following a speech on Thursday.
Turning Point USA and Leadership Institute invited Gaines to speak at an event on the SFSU campus exploring women’s athletics and the inequalities that female competitors could face against transgender opponents.
Gaines, a former NCAA swimmer from the University of Kentucky, was reportedly forced to barricade herself in a room for three hours for her own safety when student protesters became violent and unruly.
“She told me she was hit multiple times by a guy in a dress. I was shaking. It made me that mad. It makes me sick to feel so helpless about it,” Gaines’s husband, Louis Barker, told Fox News. “She was under police protection and was still hit by a man wearing a dress.”
Footage of the campus chaos was shared by Gaines on Twitter in the early hours of Friday morning showing trans activists berating her as security tries to escort the 12-time All-America swimmer to safety.
“The prisoners are running the asylum at SFSU…I was ambushed and physically hit twice by a man,” Gaines wrote in the tweet. “This is proof that women need sex-protected spaces. Still only further assures me I’m doing something right. When they want you silent, speak louder.”
In another clip taken by protesters, the mob of students and press can be heard demanding payment to let Gaines leave the safety of her barricaded room.
Gaines gained national recognition for criticizing the inclusion of male swimmers competing as women, notably Lia Thomas.
During the 2022 NCAA women’s championship, Gaines tied Thomas in the 200-yard freestyle event. Afterward, the University of Kentucky athlete shared the concerns of female athletes.
“I actually had a ton of Lia Thomas’ teammates reach out to me personally, and thank me for what I’m doing because this is something they deal with every single day,” Gaines said in an appearance with Senator Rand Paul (R., Ky.) on Fox. “But of course, they’re intimidated, they’re threatened, they’re emotionally blackmailed.”
Gaines denounced a court decision in early March compelling USA Powerlifting to permit transgender athletes to compete based on self-identity.
“We know testosterone has an effect on performance, outcome and strength. Men, on average and this is not opinionated, it’s a fact, men on average are taller, they’re stronger, more powerful, faster than women. Again, to deny that is denying science. We have so much data and scientific evidence that prove this,” Gaines said.
A series of clips documenting the bedlam was released throughout the night by the student newspaper.