Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 816 | Reliving the Trauma of Sharing a Locker Room with 'Lia' Thomas | Guest: Riley Gaines

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey, this is Steve Day. If you're listening to Allie, you already understand that the biggest issues facing our country aren't just political. They're moral, spiritual, and rooted in what we believe is true about God, humanity, and reality itself. On the Steve Day show, we take the news of the day and tested against first principles, faith, truth, and objective reality. We don't just chase narratives and we don't offer false comfort.

Starting point is 00:00:19 We ask the hard questions and follow the answers wherever they leave, even when it's unpopular. This is a show for people who want honesty over hype and clarity over chaos. If you're looking for commentary grounded in conviction and unwilling to lie to you about where we are or where we're headed, you can watch this D-Day show right here on Blaze TV or listen wherever you get podcasts. I hope you'll join us. Riley Gaines was an elite collegiate swimmer who was forced to change in front of and compete against a man at the end of her college athletics career. And now she is still making waves as an advocate for women's sports. And so we're going to be talking to Riley today, why she has chosen to step up. Also, she's got a special announcement that she's making at the end of this episode.

Starting point is 00:01:05 But first, I just want to start off the day in the week with a little bit of biblical encouragement for my relatable crew. This episode is brought to you by your friends at Good Ranchers. Go to Good Ranchers.com. Use code Alley. Check out that's good ranchers.com. Code Allie. Hey, guys. Welcome to Relatable. Happy Monday.

Starting point is 00:01:35 I hope everyone had a wonderful. weekend. All right, before we get into our conversation with Riley, I just wanted to give some Monday morning encouragement. You guys know I like to do this, sometimes at the top of every episode, sometimes just at the beginning of the week to remind you to simply do the next right thing in faith with excellence and for the glory of God. In fact, if you're going to Young Women's Leadership Summit this weekend, I will be there speaking on Saturday. And we will have some merch, a shirt with that on it, that I think is super cute. Maybe my favorite piece of merch that we've ever gotten. Also, don't forget, we have some Noahe covenant month shirts, some beautiful rainbow attire that reminds us of God's faithfulness

Starting point is 00:02:21 for sale at alleymerch.com. I don't know if the do everything in faith with excellence and for the glory of God church will be made available to everyone, or if it's just those of you going to YWLS. I'm not sure. I'll let you know about that. But that was just in a sense. side. My encouragement to you is today, do the next right thing in faith with excellence and for the glory of God. I posted on Instagram some ways that we can glorify God this month of June. And of course, these are things that we can be doing all of the time. But as we look to the rainbow, the seven colors of the rainbow to remember God's promises, we can just double down on our spirit-powered efforts to glorify him, to love our neighbor and to do everything that we can in faith and with excellence.

Starting point is 00:03:05 I just wanted to share some thoughts, too, as I know that we live in this chaotic culture, that's why we have this podcast relatable. I'm relating to you about what it's like to navigate the craziness of this godless era in a way that is hopefully as clear and as courageous and as biblical as we possibly and fallibly can. And I love passages that remind me that while it looks like evil is provisive, while it looks like Satan is winning, that God is always accomplishing his purposes, that his eternal plan of redemption is always going off without a hitch, that there is no obstacle that can

Starting point is 00:03:46 ever be put in his way that will hinder him from accomplishing his will. One of the verses that I recommended memorizing for the month of June is Job 42, 2, one of my favorite verses, that no plan of God's can be thwarted. That's a little bit of a paraphrase. No plan of gods can be thwarted. While it might look like his plans and purposes are being thwarted, ultimately he is in control and his ultimate victory is sure. So the person who preached at my church over the weekend, we were not in this chapter, but he referenced Acts 16. And sometimes this happens when I'm listening to sermons. No matter how wonderful the sermon is and the person who is preaching is I kind of get sucked into another passage and I start thinking about it. And that's what

Starting point is 00:04:36 happened when he referenced Acts 16. Act 16. It starts out. Timothy joins Paul and Silas. They are evangelizing in the city of Philippi. As they are going to a place of prayer, Paul and Silas started in verse 16. It says, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune telling. So she could foresee the future in some way. And so the owners of this slave girl were making a lot of money from it. She followed Paul in us crying out. These men are servants of the Most High God who proclaim to you the way of salvation. And this she kept doing for many days. Paul, having become greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And it came out of her that very hour. So she was actually

Starting point is 00:05:34 possessed by an evil spirit that was allowing her to have this power of divination. But when her owner saw that their hope of gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers. Long story short, they had them arrested. They said, these men are Jews and they're disturbing our city. They advocate customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to accept or practice. And so the crowd joined and attacking them, started beating them. They were thrown in to prison. While they were in prison, verse 25 says, about midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God and the prisoners were listening to them. And suddenly there was a great earthquake so that the foundations of the prison

Starting point is 00:06:14 were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's bonds were unfastened. When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul cried with a loud voice, do not harm yourself for we are all here. And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, trembling with fear. He fell down before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them out and said, sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household. And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds. And he was baptized at once, he and all his family. Then he brought them into his house and set food before them. And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God. And then there is more to that chapter that is equally just beautiful and miraculous and shows God's plan of redemption. But what I love about this, and we see this so often in stories throughout scripture, is that we see that something that seemed like an interruption, that seemed like a hindrance, that seemed like an obstacle that

Starting point is 00:07:22 Satan was putting in the way of Christians actually turned out to be the very thing. that led to the purpose that God originally wanted to accomplish. So something satanic, something evil, something wicked, the demon possession of a young girl, taunting these evangelists, following them around, trying to get in their way. It seemed like something that was a distraction from their original purpose. They were actually going to do something good. They were going to a place of prayer. And yet it was the demon possession of this girl,

Starting point is 00:07:55 something that Satan was obviously using, not just to oppress her, not just also to tempt other people into sin. We read in the Old Testament that God hates fortune telling and divination and she was being used to lure people in that way. And also as a hindrance to Paul and Silas and the evangelist, this could have seemed like a victory of Satan. And yet God used, intended to use, that very evil thing. to then place Paul and Silas in jail where they rejoiced in the Lord that then led to the salvation of the Philippian jailer in his entire family. God won. He won in a situation that looked exclusively dark, exclusively desperate, exclusively hopeless. It looked like Satan had control of this entire situation. Look, this demon-possessed girl led to these evangelists going to jail. They weren't

Starting point is 00:08:52 able to go to the house of prayer, the place of prayer that they wanted to go. It looked like Satan had claimed victory. But these chains were no match for God. This circumstance was no match for God. He actually always intended from the very beginning for this exact plan to go into place and then for the Philippian jailer to hear the word of the Lord and believe him and his entire household. So let us remember that. Let us remember in our own lives. Let us remember when we look out the window and see the craziness and the chaos of the world, every evil, wicked thing that we see, every moment in which it seems like Satan is winning. God is using every single bit of it for his glory and our good, even in ways that we cannot yet see. What is Romans 1 or Romans 828 tells us that God is working all things together

Starting point is 00:09:49 for the good of those who love him, who are called according to his purpose. His eternal plan of redemption is always going off without a hitch. Nothing surprises him. Nothing throws him off. So whether it's your own personal trials or tribulations or hardships or inconveniences or seeming distractions or obstacles or hindrances or whether, again, we're looking at how the culture is going, how our country is going. There is nothing that shocks God and nothing can thwart his plans. He will use it all for the advancement of the gospel. Nothing can stop him. No law, no ruler, no change in values, no cultural shift, no supreme court decision. There is nothing that can stand in his way. He will claim ultimate victory. So really, it is true what we say, what Elizabeth Elliott said that comforts me so much.

Starting point is 00:10:45 the only thing that you have to do today is the will of God. The only thing that you have to worry about is doing the next right thing with the power of the Holy Spirit. That is the freedom of the gospel. That we no longer feel the anxiety and the weight of the world because we know who wins and all we can do is play our spirit empowered part in all of it. What a privilege it is that we are used as a vessel of the gospel. God doesn't need us to accomplish his purposes. He doesn't need our prayers to do what he wants to do.

Starting point is 00:11:18 He doesn't technically need our evangelism to do what he wants to do, but he has ordained that these are the means by which he is going to bring souls to himself and advance the gospel. And we are privileged to play a part in it. And we have nothing to worry about, nothing to worry about. So thank God. Thank God that while Satan does have power in this life, He is the prince of the power of the air.

Starting point is 00:11:46 We serve a God who is over all of it, who is bigger than all of it, who will accomplish his purposes no matter what. All right. I just wanted to start our day and start our week with that truth. And yeah, and now we'll go into the conversation with Riley Gaines, which is also encouraging in a different way. It is a testimony and courage. and in doing the next right thing, both the big and small things.

Starting point is 00:12:18 And I think that she's a really good example for us in that. And thank you guys so much, by the way, just for I've gotten so many kind messages from you over the past couple weeks. And again, just reminders from y'all that you're praying for me and praying for the show. Thank you so much. I just appreciate this community so greatly. Hey, this is Steve Dase. If you're listening to Allie, you already understand that the biggest issues facing our country aren't just political.

Starting point is 00:12:47 They're moral, spiritual, and rooted in what we believe is true about God, humanity, and reality itself. On the Steve Day show, we take the news of the day and tested against first principles, faith, truth, and objective reality. We don't just chase narratives and we don't offer false comfort. We ask the hard questions and follow the answers wherever they leave, even when it's unpopular. This is a show for people who want honesty over hype and clarity over chaos. If you're looking for commentary grounded in conviction and unwilling to lie to you about where we are or where we're headed, you can watch this Steve Day show right here on Blaze, or listen wherever you get podcasts.

Starting point is 00:13:19 I hope you'll join us. All right. We are going to talk to Riley Gaines. Riley is a former University of Kentucky swimmer, 12-time All-American. She competed against Will Thomas, who goes by Leah Thomas, decided when he was in college that he was going to pretend to be a woman and to compete against women in swimming. He was a pretty good collegiate athlete, a pretty good swimmer before he decided to quote, unquote, transition. He was somewhere, I think, maybe ranked around 400 among men. And then he became

Starting point is 00:13:59 between number one and number three when he decided that he was a woman. It's literally almost laughable. Like I had to stifle a laugh. If it weren't so sad, it would be laughable that this is something that's even debated or allowed. But a legitimately wonderful and amazing female swimmer, Riley Gaines, competed against him. And you can see in this picture that we have up on YouTube, As she is looking at him thinking what in the heck she actually tied with him as I'll talk to Riley about, which makes her pretty incredible at swimming. She decided to then take her platform that she gained from competing against him and speaking out about having to change with this person in the locker room to fight for women's rights in sports and in sex exclusive spaces. So let me tell you or let me show you this speech that she gave that went viral about competing against Will Thomas.

Starting point is 00:14:58 I know I don't speak for everyone. It's impossible to speak for everyone. But I can attest to the tears that were shed on that pool deck by these poor ninth and 17th place finishers who missed out on being named an All-American by one place. And I can attest to the extreme discomfort in the locker room when you turn around and there's a male watching you undress while exposing himself. I can attest to the anger. and frustration from these girls who had worked so hard and sacrificed so much to get to this point. And we'll get into the details about that.

Starting point is 00:15:30 But you'll notice she pointed out that there are women who missed out on these opportunities by one place because they had to compete against a man who has different aerobic and aerobic capacity, muscle mass, bone density, a bigger heart, all of these things that make it much easier for him to compete against them. And Riley, for her stance and for her curse, she didn't have to do this, but she took the steps to defend these girls who cannot speak up for themselves. And she has gotten a lot of vitriol. Here she is at San Francisco State University after giving a speech about why it's important to protect women's sports. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:16:43 It's like what we talk about. about on Thursday. We had to bleep out a lot of what was being said, psychopathy, narcissism, violence. It's just kind of intrinsic, unfortunately, in this activist class of this ideology. So she's taken a lot of hits for this. I just admire her a lot for taking a stand. And I'm so glad that she is, that she's here today. And then we also, she's also got a pretty special announcement to make at the end of this. So without further ado here is. Riley Gaines. Riley Gaines, thanks so much for being here.

Starting point is 00:17:22 And thanks for what you do. Oh my gosh. Well, thank you for having me. This is like surreal to me because I've always looked up to you. So thank you. Sweet. Okay, so you graduated college just last year. I did.

Starting point is 00:17:32 You're just 23 years old. And what have the last couple years been since you have become such an outspoken advocate for women's sports? I'm sure that she didn't plan to become a public speaker or beyond podcast or anything like that. So what has that been like? My life has been really turned upside down. I graduated last year with my degree in human health sciences and health law. I scored in the top percentile on the dental admissions test and I was

Starting point is 00:17:58 ready to go to dental school. That's what I had always planned for myself. Actually, what I wanted to do was endodonics, which is like root canals. I had gotten married. Someone's got to do it. Yeah, right? I'd gotten married. It really would have been easy for me to kind of just write off into the sunset and continue on with the plans that I had made for myself. But I had, after seeing and feeling the injustice of competing against the biological man and everything that came with it in terms of the locker room, in terms of the silencing that our institutions and universities were trying to, to submit our voices. Seeing that, I saw such a need for someone to stand up to it.

Starting point is 00:18:38 I didn't want it to be me. This is never something I foresaw. But I feel as if I was kind of thrust it into this position and I feel like it would be a disservice to not only myself, not even just female athletes, all women to not take a stance in the truth. But your fellow competitors, and I'm sure teammates, really felt the same way that you did. Absolutely. And so I just wonder what it was about you and the grit inside you that made you step out in a way that

Starting point is 00:19:09 a lot of other female athletes did it. So like, why weren't you scared? Like, why didn't you just say, you know what? I know this is unjust. Maybe I can tweet about it a couple times. But at the end of the day, this is my life. I'm, you know, I'm going to become a dentist and do root canals. That's much less controversial.

Starting point is 00:19:27 Like, what do you think it was? Or was there a moment that you're like, I'm going to do the hard thing? The moment that thrusted me into the position of taking a public stance was when after I tied with biological male Leah Thomas in the 200 free cell, we go behind the awards podium. And this, keep in mind, this is. is the fastest meet in the world. This is the most elite female swimmers in the country. And so we go behind the awards podium and the Instabola official looks at both Thomas and myself after tying down to the hundredth of a second. And he says, great job. But we have one trophy and we're going to give that trophy to Leah because Leah has to have it for pictures. And so that was the moment when

Starting point is 00:20:06 I of course knew what was happening before this was wrong in terms of the unfair competition and again, the locker room. But when they reduced everything we'd worked our entire life for down to a photo op to validate the feelings and the identity of a male at the expense of our own. Yeah. That's when I had had enough. Yeah. But in regards to really what is kind of motivating me to do this, I get called brave all the time.

Starting point is 00:20:31 I get called courageous all the time, but I don't feel brave. Who I consider brave is our military, is our law enforcement, is first responders. Those people are brave. It's not brave to say men and women are different. And so I kind of realized that the people. people who are calling me brave were ultimately just scared of different things. What they're scared of is being labeled transphobic, homophobic. I get called racist and I'm like, what does this even have to do with race? It has nothing to do with race. They're scared of this cancel culture that we

Starting point is 00:21:02 live in. And while that is scary, I'm more scared of what would happen if you don't stand for the truth. I think ultimately the direction we're going as a nation is pretty terrifying. We're actively denying truth. We're changing the language that we use. Again, the silencing aspect of it is really deeply rooted in Marxism. You can open any history book and see how that turns out for any civilization. And so I think that's kind of what really gives me the strength to to stand firm, stand secure, and take the arrows because I know what I'm standing for. I have common sense on my side. Yeah, that's something that we say a lot on this show is sharing the arrows that when someone is unfairly maligned for something or someone is bullied for saying something that is so obviously true,

Starting point is 00:22:01 like men and women are different, then rather than backing down and saying, oh, I'm so glad that that wasn't me, that teaches me a lesson never to stand up. Rather, courage can be contagious. We should all stand up and say, you know what, the arrows that Riley's getting, you can send them my way too, because this is true and therefore it's worth standing for. I mean, I think it's just like a God-given grit and courage and determination in you. you that he just decided, okay, there's going to be someone who is going to stand up for this. And I mean, that person, there's a lot of people, but that person right now is you. And I just wonder if before all of this happened with Leah slash Will Thomas, if you considered

Starting point is 00:22:44 yourself political or if you were involved in the culture wars at all, or were you just like, head down collegiate athlete didn't care about that kind of stuff. I've always been politically in tune. I've always known what's happening. I think it's important to keep up with this stuff. And I've always had my beliefs and those were not beliefs I was going to falter from. But that being said, it was in a sense kind of head down. I mean, my sport was my entire life.

Starting point is 00:23:11 We trained six hours in the pool every single day. We swam almost 10 miles every day. So there wasn't much time to get involved in anything else. And that wasn't my main concern at the time. And now a year past being done swimming, I've taken a step back, of course, and I kind of realized I was naive to everything going on. I always considered myself in tune, and I don't want to consider myself someone who is naive, but I kind of was with what's happening and how we've gotten to the point that we've gotten to.

Starting point is 00:23:40 Yeah. Wow. And had you been swimming, like, from little, little, like competitively? I started swimming when I was four, just your typical summer swim that a lot of kids do. But then by the time I turned eight, so in second grade, that's when I started swimming. year round. So really from 8 to 18, you practice every day, two hours a day. And then, of course, middle school, high school, you go to practice before school, then you go to school, and then you go back to practice. And like I said, in college, you're swimming six hours a day. Three of those hours being before 8 a.m. So. And was it ever a question growing up middle school or high school about whether male competitions and female competitions were different when it came to swimming? Or was it always just, yeah,

Starting point is 00:24:24 obviously boys and girls are going to be separated. It was obvious. I think when you're at that 12-year-old age range, that's when you see the boys start to really set themselves apart. Puberty. Right. And I think that's across the board in most sports. That's what you'll see.

Starting point is 00:24:41 So we were relatively comparable 10 years old, 11, 12, but by the time you're 13, 14. I mean, the boys blow the girls out of the water. Testosterone levels are. pretty much the same until boys go through puberty. And then, I mean, obviously boys skyrockets. And that's irreversible, which is exactly why someone like Leah slash Will Thomas is so unfair. It doesn't matter how many hormones he goes on. If he grows out his hair, if he wears his skirt, it doesn't matter. At the end of the day, he's gone through male puberty. And I do think, though, I mean, you tied with him. That's like legit. That means like you're really, really good.

Starting point is 00:25:19 Take me back to the moment, because you have described this. I saw a snippet of it from another podcast when I mean that very awkward and I'm sure in some ways traumatizing moment like when you were changing in the locker room. Absolutely. You got a you got a man there which I'm sure in all of your athletic experience like that had you never you never seen that before in the locker room. Never and traumatic is a good word for it. We were not forewarned we'd be sharing a locker room. No one told us that we would be forced to do such. The only time we became aware of this was when we were in the locker room and Leah Thomas, a six foot four, 22 year old man walks in, drops his clothes and is fully intact with in exposing male genitalia while we're simultaneously undressing.

Starting point is 00:26:04 Of course, it feels like belittlemen. It feels like humiliation. It's felt like betrayal. The people who were supposed to be protecting us failed miserably. And at the time, this is alleged from his teammates, he was still active with women. So to be in a locker room with a man who is attracted to women and no one said anything about it, no one did anything about it. Actually, when we did say something about it, we were told that we were wrong for feeling uncomfortable. How could you not see this as a woman?

Starting point is 00:26:38 You know, you're not being very kind and you're sure as heck not being inclusive and you have to be those things. So we were gaslit and emotionally blackmailed into staying silent into feeling wrong for feeling uncomfortable in that space. accepting what was considered just a few years ago sexual harassment as totally normal absolutely that you should just be silent about wow I mean on the heels of also just like the Me Too movement it's pretty incredible how quickly we went from yeah raise your voice to be quiet absolutely I think the irony behind it all is almost hysterical it really is comical seeing how of course the left was once a party that embraced women's rights, embraced empowering and recognizing and celebrating women based

Starting point is 00:27:27 off of their own uniqueness. And now we're seeing the narrative totally flipped, even in regards to Title IX. This is the same party who once fought for Title IX. And now the Biden administration is actively working to undermine that entire fight by changing the definition, changing or rewriting it to where it's no longer preventing discrimination on the basis of sex. It's preventing discrimination on the basis of gender identity. So what this means is men can join sororities, which is already happening. It's happening at University of Wyoming where these girls are pursuing a lawsuit and what they've talked to them at great lengths as well. And what they're enduring is terrible. Yeah. It's, again, humiliating. It's traumatic. It's traumatic.

Starting point is 00:28:05 Sexual harassment. I mean, these boys, obviously, they have some kind of, you know, sexual fantasy and they're pretending to be girls going to these sorority houses, wanting to invite themselves to the sleepovers exposing themselves. And these girls are, I'm not saying in Wyoming, but several across the country. They're just being told be quiet. Absolutely. Well, even the girls in Wyoming. That's absolutely what they face.

Starting point is 00:28:26 When they put their lawsuit forward and they wanted to remain anonymous, their judge said no. If this is something you really want to take on, you don't get the option to remain anonymous. You have to put your name on here and face the repercussions of putting your name on here. Wow. So these girls, I mean, that's hard for anyone to do, especially when you see what happens to someone like me when I go to San Francisco State University and speak about something, again, that should not be. It's not controversial. Explaining my experience, what we face in the locker room, the silencing piece, and just how men and women are different. That's not something that should require courage to say, and it's not something that should be controversial.

Starting point is 00:29:02 No. And we played that clip before you came on of San Francisco State and just the mob, the assaults, the absolute disgusting harassment that you endured simply for saying that men and women are different. And like you said, explaining your lived experience, which we are told is so important to be able to explain our lived experience and to have empathy and all these things. The very same people wielding those words and weaponizing those words, they don't mean them when it comes to people that they disagree with. What does your husband think about this? I mean, I'm sure, like you were dating your husband at the time that the whole Will Leah Thomas thing happened. I'm sure as a man, he's like, oh, my gosh. And then now the abuse that you endure.

Starting point is 00:29:46 I mean, how does he feel? I remember, again, I had no idea we would be sharing a changing space with Thomas. And so when we actually saw that firsthand, I immediately called my husband and I said, and we weren't married at the time. And I said, we had to share a locker room with this man. I called my dad. And my dad, he's a former NFL football player. He's a very big guy.

Starting point is 00:30:13 And when I told him the same thing. He said, Riley, I'm coming down there and I'm going to handle this myself. Of course. And I said, Dad, we already have one man in the locker room. We don't need two. But from their eyes, this is hard for them to deal with, especially seeing kind of the backlash that I received now. I'm just fortunate. I have so much support.

Starting point is 00:30:36 Such a great foundation. I rely heavily on my faith, my family, my friends to really lean on. And they're my rock. Yeah. Yeah. And as you're thinking, I'm sure you're thinking about, you know, future kids and things and your kids, I'm sure, will be very athletic. Those jeans will be passed down. If you have girls who want to go into any sport and knowing that this is going to be a conflict, like, how are you going to handle that? That's why I'm fighting this. So my daughter doesn't have to. My little sister, who's the Tennessee State champion for gymnastics, so she doesn't have to go through this. I can't imagine being in the position. that I'm in facing what we face, seeing what we saw, having the testimony that I have in regards to the trophy and how that was handled and not fighting for them. Because it's not about me.

Starting point is 00:31:26 I'm done playing sports. You couldn't pay me to get back in a pool right now. I'd probably sink. So it's not about me. It's about that next generation. How many girls have to get injured before someone does something? How many girls have to be exploited in a locker room? how many girls have to be asked to kindly smile and step aside and allow these men onto our podiums and onto our teams taking our scholarships and our trophies, our accolades. That's why I'm fighting this. Absolutely. And what do you encourage female athletes to do right now? I think you've called for them to stop competing, right?

Starting point is 00:32:15 Right. In protest. Yeah, this was something that for the longest time, I thought, no, girls should not boycott. We shouldn't have to give up anything. We shouldn't have to sacrifice a thing. There is no compromise to be made. Girls should not have to boycott. But then when this bill was introduced on at the U.S. House and all 203 Democrats voted in opposition of protecting women and girls, that's when I realize legislation is not going to be the change that is necessary to, well, it's not going to be fast enough.

Starting point is 00:32:48 It's going to have to be something that we can do on our end to stop this. to make change. And of course, that would require sacrifices being made. And I do hate that. I hate that girls have to give up anything, but ultimately boycotts are effective. We've seen it in the past. They work. We're seeing it in England right now in regards to cycling. They have men who are cycling, and these women have said no. And changes are being made. And that's what we have to do. And I know it's easier said than done. But that's ultimately how change can be made at a faster pace. You know, I think I agree with you, although I do empathize with that, like, well, why should they've worked so hard for this? And you don't get these years back. If you boycott while you're in college, you know, you don't get to compete again. But this is bigger. Like it is bigger than the college experience. And ultimately, sadly, like these organizations, these colleges, they may not listen to red or blue, but they listen to green. And if they're not making money because women are competing, I would think that that would probably be a problem. Totally. Absolutely. Absolutely. You have to hit. them where it hurts. That being said, I think legal action is something that could take place.

Starting point is 00:33:57 Actually, I'm certain it could because they explicitly violated Title IX. We were blatantly discriminated on the basis of sex. But they know it's a burden to sue. They know girls my age. We don't have the funds. We don't have the means. We don't have the time to pursue that. But that's something that I think is necessary. And that's something that I'm going to be working on on my end because I do think you're exactly right. They listen to the grain. Yeah. Okay. Final word of encouragement to parents of daughters and to the high school and college girls who are listening to this. Maybe they're athletes. Maybe they're not. But they want to speak up for this, but there's a lot of pressure. It's hard when you're at school. As you know, the bullying, the ostracizing that goes on.

Starting point is 00:34:41 But what would you say to them? I think my advice first to parents is to be. willing to defend your daughters. Be willing to teach your son's masculinity. These are things we've kind of veered so far from. And I understand, especially when you work a corporate job, you don't want to ruffle feathers or step on toes, but it really is necessary. My message to female athletes, I get messages all the time from girls, from parents who tell me, you know, my daughter's quitting her sport because she's discouraged.

Starting point is 00:35:13 You know, she plays on our high school basketball team and they're going against men or They have men on their team. And she just doesn't want to play anymore. My advice is to not get discouraged. We can't cave. We can't let them have these wins. We have to play. We have to stand up.

Starting point is 00:35:29 I'll say from my personal experience, I was terrified of getting backlash. I was terrified of being labeled anything because I know deep in my heart. I have no hate for anyone. I know that's about myself. And so I was terrified of being labeled as someone who's hateful. but I've realized the people who throw these labels on you, it just speaks more about their own insecurities. It speaks more about them than it does about you.

Starting point is 00:35:55 Again, this past year, the attacks I get the arrows I receive, it's personal attacks. It's nothing that dissuades from my argument. It's something such as, you know, maybe you should have just trained harder and swam faster. I'm like, genius idea. I never thought of that. They'll say things such as, you know, your hair looks like extensions, which this is my real hair, it's not extensions. You have beautiful hair.

Starting point is 00:36:17 So I've just realized that these are people who are insecure with themselves, and they will resort to anything to try to silence you, but they can't dissuade from your argument, and it is not bad for your brand to defend women. Yeah, I saw Thomas on a podcast recently, and he and the other person were talking about how people like us, you know, that they would label turfs or whatever, are the ones who were really dealing with, like, deep,

Starting point is 00:36:43 seated in security ourselves. And of course, as always, it's projection. I think you're right. Of course, you're not secure in your identity. No. It's not real. Right. And I can guarantee, I am secure with myself. I'm secure because of my faith. I, I, that's, again, that's something I rely heavily on. I think before anything, we should try to live Christ-like lives. Our God made man and woman. Our God does not make mistakes. And of course, he's a God of love, no doubt, but he's a God who hates sin. And so that's something that I keep on my chest to remember. Amen. Well, thank you so much, Riley. I really appreciate it. I just encourage everyone to pray for her, support her, share her arrows. And courage is contagious. And your courage is contagious.

Starting point is 00:37:29 So thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right. So this is a little bit different. I had Riley in studio with me. And then we actually heard a few days later that she wanted to come back and make an announcement. She wasn't actually able to be here in person. And so we recorded a remote interview with her so she could make a very special announcement on this show. She's going to tell us something about Title IX. And I will let her explain what that news is. But just to give a little context because we weren't able to get into this in our original interview.

Starting point is 00:38:14 Let me tell you about the Biden Education Department's proposed changes to Title IX that Riley and others have been pushing back against. So in April, the Biden administration announced that it has some new proposed amendments to Title IX that would prohibit schools that would prohibit schools receiving federal funds from enforcing bans on males competing in female sports. So basically, if you had a school that received federal funds that says, sorry, only women can play in women's sports, only girls can play in girls sports, they would no longer receive those federal funds. Schools would be prohibited from adopting or applying. a one size fits all. That's what they call it policy. They categorically bans so-called transgender students from participating on sports teams consistent with their so-called gender identity. This is all absolutely ridiculous, considering that bodies compete, not identities.

Starting point is 00:39:08 Schools covered by the proposed rule would be permitted to draft their own policies, limiting athletic participation based on a set of sex-related criteria unique to their community. they must take into account each sport level of competition and greater education level. The department said any restriction should be substantially related to the achievement of an important educational objective and designed to minimize harms to transgender students, not minimize harms to women, minimize harms to men who think that they're women. Because no one's worried, by the way, about girls who want to compete on boys, sports teams. That's happening very, very, very rarely. I think we obviously know why. it would be really difficult for even a girl on testosterone and puberty blockers to compete against boys.

Starting point is 00:39:53 Testosterone levels are just so disparate after puberty. We're talking about boys who want to go into the locker room with girls. We're talking about boys who want to expose themselves to girls. We're talking about boys who want to be able to push over girls. That's what we're talking about here. This is what the Biden administration is proposing we protect. It is expected that transgender elementary school students will generally be able to participate on sports teams consistent with their gender identity, while older students are expected to be subjected to sex-related criteria that limit their participation in sports. There's no such thing as any of this.

Starting point is 00:40:30 This is all absolutely ridiculous. And Riley Gaines knows that it's ridiculous. That's why she's pushed back against it because this will mean the elimination of women's sports, period. And so she's going to tell us a little bit about the development of this as she's pushed back. what has the response been? There is some actually good news in this. And then she's also got a very special announcement even after that that she wanted to come on this show and announce. So here again is Riley Games. Riley, okay, thanks so much for coming back. Tell us about this announcement that you have. Absolutely. First and foremost, I want to say to the people who commented on this

Starting point is 00:41:12 Title IX public comment period that the Biden administration put forward, we did a phenomenal job because they have now delayed their implementation of changing Title IX, which is great news. That being said, we have an administration in the White House right now who does want to rid women and girls of opportunities, not just in sports, but women and girls in general. They're really with aggression proceeding with this erasure, this systemic erasure of woman and womanhood and what it means to be a woman. as we've also seen this presidential election in 2024, it's gearing up, it's gaining traction.

Starting point is 00:41:52 It's crucial to get behind a Republican candidate who will support these cultural issues. And that is why I am so excited to announce that I am endorsing Governor DeSantis for president. I really first became active in politics because of this assault on women's sports, especially. That being said, I followed Governor DeSantis's. success in Florida, especially, in what he's done there and how well he has succeeded and how well it's resonated with his constituents there. I feel like our elected leaders, they've totally abandoned us until Ron DeSantis. I'm thrilled. We have conversed a lot behind these

Starting point is 00:42:33 issues and I know that he will do a phenomenal job in putting the right foot forward and protecting women and girls and protecting children. That's what this whole movement is about. So I'm thrilled to say that. I'm thrilled as things again start to gain this traction. And I couldn't be more grateful to work alongside them. That's awesome. Well, thank you so much for announcing that on this show. Tell us just a little bit more about what makes you so confident,

Starting point is 00:43:00 among the other candidates, that Ron DeSantis is going to be the one to champion this really important issue of protecting the rights and the safety and the fairness of women and girls. Absolutely. I think as we've seen, like I mentioned, in Florida, this is just who the governor is. He's taken on the political establishment. He's taken on these woke corporations. He's taken on the media. And he's won. He's done a phenomenal job. The way he's, his presence has been made. He is this leader who makes fighting this gender ideology movement, really a litmus test for conservatives across the country. And that being said, I think these cultural issues that we're seeing in regards. regards to this gender ideology propaganda, whether that's sports, whether that's through corporations as we're seeing in Target and Bud Light and all kinds of others, whether that's in the education

Starting point is 00:43:53 system, really just seeing how he's handled this. I think these are the issues, truthly, I think they're spiritual warfare. And seeing how he's tackled them, seeing how he's handled them, really with no, he's really drawn the line. And I've yet to see another candidate do so such as he has. Therefore, I think he's absolutely entirely the best option to handle these. Yeah. Back in 2021, the governor signed SB 1028, which was the fairness in women's sports act. Of course, got a lot of pushback, but just protecting female sports for what they should be, which is exclusively female. And so having that common sense position and something that is so important, as you said, not just for women, but especially for children. I agree with you.

Starting point is 00:44:38 I'm so glad that we have someone who is championing that. So thank you so much for your thoughts. Thank you for how you've been out there on the front lines and this issue at much cost to you. I really appreciate it. Thanks for taking the time to come on. Absolutely. Thank you so much. Hey, this is Steve Day.

Starting point is 00:45:01 If you're listening to Allie, you already understand that the biggest issues facing our country aren't just political. They're moral, spiritual, and rooted in what we believe is true about God, humanity and reality itself. On the Steve Day show, we take the news of the day and tested against. first principles, faith, truth, and objective reality. We don't just chase narratives and we don't offer false comfort. We ask the hard questions and follow the answers wherever they leave, even when it's unpopular. This is a show for people who want honesty over hype and clarity over chaos. If you're looking for commentary grounded in conviction and unwilling to lie to you about where we are or where we're headed, you can watch this T-Day Show right here on Blaze TV or listen wherever you get podcasts.

Starting point is 00:45:38 I hope you'll join us.

Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 816 | Reliving the Trauma of Sharing a Locker Room with 'Lia' Thomas | Guest: Riley Gaines

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