The Glenn Beck Program - Best of the Program | Guests: Riley Gaines & Joe Kennedy | 3/17/23

Episode Date: March 17, 2023

Glenn speaks with a former fire department chaplain, Dr. Andrew Fox, who was fired after writing a blog about how men shouldn't compete in women's sports. Glenn speaks with high school coach Joe Kennedy, who was hired back seven years after being fired for praying with his football team. Twelve-time NCAA All-American swimmer Riley Gaines joins Glenn to discuss the erasure of female sports, all in the guise of supporting women.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey, today's podcast is great. We want to start by giving you an update on Hunter Biden. Apparently, he's suing Jason Buttrill, our chief researcher, head writer of the program is here. So he's suing the computer company for what? Invasion of Privacy. He's a suing over Russian information? Or is this actually his laptop? Yeah, I know.

We have confirmation, Glenn. Isn't that weird? They've always said that it wasn't his laptop. Now it is. top. But you shouldn't have looked at it. Right. I'm imagining that this case, I'd like to see where the case was filed. Bet you it was in, well, I don't know if they would have jurisdiction to be able to do it in Washington, D.C. But if they do it in Delaware, that's dirty as hell too.

But that's trying to get all of the evidence on the laptop thrown out. And it's getting pretty, they're getting close. They're getting close. Yeah, definitely do not look at what the House Oversight Committee was revealing yesterday and what we talked about today. Right. And so that's right at the beginning of the podcast. There's a lot of stuff and some really good news. We had Riley Gaines on just at the end of the podcast. She is fantastic. Just fantastic. Just wanted to check in with her and see what was going on in her world. She's the woman who was standing up, you know, against men coming in and, you know, swimming. And she's the 12-time champion, American women's swimming champion. She's remarkable. There's a lot on today's podcast you're going to really enjoy and learn from. So don't miss a second of it. All right.

Sponsored by American Giant. They'd like to thank you for doing business with them. They started advertising October of last year just for a few weeks. They had so many responses and so many people reach out to them and say, hey, thank you for doing what you're doing, bringing American manufacturing back. In 2012, as I said back then, um, there. There was a clothing factory in Middlesex, North Carolina, and it was being shut down. And the guy who's now running American Giant, he actually started it because of this. He is like, we have to have these companies.

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American-giant.com slash glen. You're listening to The Best of the Glenn Beck program. So Riley Gaines has been one of the people who have really stood up and just taken a beating for it. We're going to have her on the program today. Also, Joe Kennedy is coming up. Joe is the Bremerton High School assistant coach that won the Supreme Court case. for the right to play. I can't believe he wanted his job back, but he did, and they gave it to him.

He's back at his old job after seven years of fighting. It's an amazing story, and he is just happy as ever. Joe Kennedy is going to be joining us in a few minutes. And I wanted to stop down, and I kind of wanted our next guest to actually hear those interviews because he's in the throes of it right now. His name is Dr. Andrew Fox. He is a former Austin, Texas Fire Department chaplain. And he wrote a blog post explaining why he believes males should not compete in

female sports. And they fired him. He's a chaplain. Hmm, that seems like freedom of speech and religion, but not. maybe that's just me. Dr. Andrew Fox, welcome to the program. Pleasure to be here. Thank you for having me on. You bet. Your accent does not sound Texan. Where are you from? No, I was an immigrant from the United Kingdom, 1999, and now a citizen with my family. Wow. And you came here, why? Religious workers visa. I came to be a pastor in Washington State. And so,

You know, the die was cast. That's who I am and that's what I'm known for. So, you know, when you came here, it was a different country than it is now. Oh my goodness, 23 years ago, the welcome to the United States to live here, work here, raise my family is now completely different in my mind, 23 years later. Not the same country I moved to. I'm sorry. So you were working for the fire department and you were counseling families and, you know, what else did you do for the fire department? Well, the role of a chaplain is a resource for crisis, especially for those in uniform, men and women.

I didn't care how they identified or who they associated with. It was inclusive to everyone in uniform when you see death, be it a car accident or a fire. or something else. And then you have to give death notices to those families. You're dealing with extreme situations that most people don't face regularly. So when there's a knock on the door, I didn't know we did this. There's a knock on a door. It's not just a cop or a fireman.

You're told by a chaplain. Yeah, a chaplain is accompanied by law enforcement. But, yeah, that walk from the sidewalk to the front door. or you're about to change somebody's trajectory forever. You must, that must be horrible that walk every time. Well, as a Christian man, I, you know, I live in the grace of God to say the right thing and do the right thing and be a support to that family. No matter what their beliefs are. Okay, so you were writing on your own personal blog, correct?

Correct. And what did you write? You wrote about women's sports? I did. The blog is called Willie Woke and the Chocolate Factory. I questioned biological men competing against women as a woman, that it was yet another attack on the beauty of what it is to be a woman. and I offered arguments from all sides, citing athletes that are heterosexual, not heterosexual, that identify differently. So a comprehensive view, not just a singular view, and I was fired for it. What did they say to you?

Well, the chief, the fire chief, first of all, told me that it wasn't his business to censor me in a private blog. weeks later I met with the representative of LBGTQ to find out what offended them and they couldn't tell me

but they were just offended but they couldn't tell me what was wrong precisely and shortly after that I received a phone call telling me I was fired unless I wrote an open letter of apology for my question please

God heavens we have just we've slipped into madness just madness. So you probably, at least I hope, immediately called an attorney? I did. I called several attorneys. And as soon as the city of Austin was mentioned, they backed off until one very old, very, very old attorney.

He recommended the Alliance defending Freedom, who are, I wouldn't be where I'm at today without them. They are a stellar group of people. They really are. We are close to them. They are really amazing people. So they took on the case, and where does it stand? Right now, it is in the next month we go into deposition, but still very much alive and kicking and gathering momentum on both sides,

which again is not the country I moved to. It's ridiculous situation that I find myself in. I find it terrifying that you couldn't find an attorney to take that case quickly. No, no. As soon as they found out the details, they backed off. And if it wasn't for the old boy that recommended Alliance Defending Freedom, I'd have my head in my hands. But I'm grateful for those who fight for freedom.

It's opened my eyes to a bigger horizon. It is, it's remarkable that, you know, I had the best freedom of speech attorneys in the country, a firm in Washington, D.C. They, that's what they were known for. And they have defended me in several cases. And at one point about, I don't know, three, four years ago, they, we were in the middle of a case. and they said, we can't take your case anymore. Hey, what are you talking about? And it was, you know, they said, we just have to kind of keep the piece in the firm.

And, you know, but they were representing people like Google. And they just didn't want to have my name associated with their firm. And I said to them, are you kidding me? Is the spirit of John Adams completely dead now? And it is. It is. People, you know, attorneys are afraid for their own career. And you got nothing.

If you don't have a government that respects the Bill of Rights or attorneys that will stand for the Bill of Rights, you don't have a country of freedom anymore. Right. And that's what I was asked. I was asked to write a letter of apology or I'd be fired. But when you move to another country, you put everything on the line. And I've been blessed in the work that I'm doing and that I've done, but I was not prepared to put my character, my beliefs on the line and sell them short. And so I refused. And I think we need more voices that stand up and say no.

I'm not going to do this. That's why I wanted you on today. And I wanted to encourage you to continue to stand. And I'd be shocked if your case wasn't overturned here. What is, do you want to go back to the fire department? I would like to be offered the position back. Yes, I still have many, many, many friends in the fire department. There's 1,300 uniform personnel.

And again, I never asked about people's private lives. If they're wearing a badge and they need a chaplain, I serve them, inclusively. And that need is still there. I get calls still from battalion chiefs, captains, lieutenants, asking me to come and visit their men and women. Not at the fire station, because that's government property, but in their homes. So as a private citizen, I'm still in hospitals, homes, and different places, public places. The need is still there. If you were living in England, you'd probably be facing the same.

thing over in England, and in Canada, you would as well. If this falls, where do you go? You know, I just got back from England, from lecturing over there, and you're exactly, absolutely right. What's happening here is happening there. Where do I go? Glenn, I can only say I can stand my ground. I'm a man of prayer. I'm a man of conviction. I didn't move to the United States to get a job. I had a job in England. I was also in public ministry there. I moved here to contribute. It's my contribution to the country that welcomed me in.

And I still want to contribute. And for me, that is the United States of America. It's an opportunity. And when a government agency does this to you in such a short time, 23 years, it's wrong. I have no other words for it. It's wrong and it needs to change. Dr. Andrew Fox, thank you so much.

You know, and I guess we've had Ryan on the phone the whole time. I didn't know this. Ryan Bangert, I'm sorry. I didn't get to you. But Ryan is with the Alliance defending freedom. And Ryan, what can we do to help? Profiles of all of our cases, and he's fighting for his right to believe,

and his right not to be coerced by the government to accept government to accept government so all of our cases are there. ADSnegal.org, best place to access all of our resources. ADFlegal.org. You might want to write that down. You might also want to contribute now because you might need that at some point. ADFlegal.org. I appreciate all of the hard work that you guys do and the cases you do take on.

This seems, Ryan, to be a pretty open and shut case, or have we really fallen even further than I thought we have? Well, you would think when it isn't open and shut case. This is a situation where the guns, government, in this case, the city of Austin is telling a citizen what to believe, how to think. The shocking thing about this case is the government demanded that Dr. Fox apologize for believing Christian orthodoxy and publishing that on his own private blog. And that was the condition of him keeping his job.

And if the government can force Dr. Fox to do that, he can force anyone to do that. And that's why this case is so important. if the government can strip one citizen of their right to believe and speak as they will be as they will as they will then no one is safe and so this case is tremendously important for that reason Ryan bangered thank you so much Dr. Andrew Fox thank you will be watching this as it develops sincerely you might want to contribute because you might be on the receiving end of this at some point and sincerely write this down because you may need them at some point Dr. Fox said, I called attorneys. I didn't know who to call. You call ADFlegal.org. Go there now,

help them see all of their cases. ADFlegal.org. This is the best of the Glennbeck program. So I'm excited to talk to Joe Kennedy. Joe, when was the last time we spoke? It was before the decision, wasn't it? Yes, it was. It was, yeah, early last year. Yeah. Well, congratulations. Thank you. I appreciate that. Yeah. Joe Kennedy is the high school assistant coach from Bremerton High School. And that's up in Washington State.

And he was fired because he was praying. And he wasn't, you know, he wasn't indoctrinating anybody. I mean, I love schools telling us about indoctrination. But he wasn't indoctrinating. He was just praying. And they fired him for it. And he's fought for. seven years, didn't you?

Yeah, we're going into the ninth football season now. Jeez, geez. So for seven years, he fought this, and he won in the Supreme Court, and now you have your job back. And I'm really shocked, Joe, that you wanted your job back. Yeah, well, you know, that's a tough decision, but it really is the principle of it. You know, they drug their feet and, you know,

made this go on for so long that, you know, it's kind of the principle that I have to go back at least one more time to take one more knee on that 50-yard line and thank God for everything we've been through. Yeah. So you're coming up now. This will be the next year because you didn't play with the team this year, did you? No, that was correct. Yeah, the 20-23 season. And what's the reception been like? Well, I wish I could say it was all warm and fuzzy. Some of the people that I've met that I used to know up at the school when I went doing my paperwork, they were very cordial but kind of standoffish. Everybody else is like walking on eggshells. I wish they would just open their arms and say, hey, welcome back

night. And we could all just move on and, you know, focus on our football program. But yeah, I haven't got that warm, fuzzy feeling yet. And why do you think that is? you know i i wish people could talk more often instead of just you know taking more combat the superintendent myself we always said we were not going to take it personal this is going to be something that was left up to the judges to figure out what our constitutional rights are so him and i are great but everybody else seemed to have just taken aside and dig their heels in and and feel like they just lost something and i'm like you just gained your your first amendment you're your first of rights, you have more religious liberty, you have more freedom of speech now more than ever

in your lifetime. So why aren't we all celebrating this? It's really crazy. When the people win against the king and the king is celebrated and not the individual, it's, it is nuts. It's an upside down world. Absolutely. Well, I'm glad you got your job back. I just wanted to check in and just hear some good news and wish you all the best of luck. But thanks for checking in with me, Joe. Hey, I really appreciate it. And hopefully I'll get you a book here real soon and have you sign it, buddy. Oh, yeah.

Anytime. Hey, Joe, let me ask you. If you had to do it all over again, would you do it? Was it worth it? Oh, absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. You know, going through it sucked. And, you know, I never want anybody or myself to go through.

something like it. But, you know, fighting for the First Amendment, some things are just absolutely 100% worth fighting for. And now we'll take shots all day long for years, the rest of my life, just to make sure freedom is here in America. Yeah. What's crazy is getting to know you, you're not like a guy who can quote the Bible and everything else. I mean, you're like a normal person that just wanted to pray and found themselves in this hurricane. It's crazy. But glad you came out the other side. Absolutely crazy. We're stronger because of you, Joey.

Thank you. Thanks, man. You bet. Bye-bye. You're listening to the best of the Glenn Beck program. Yesterday we had Missy Robinson on, and she was talking about something that she had experienced in Tennessee. And she mentioned that Riley Gaines was there. And this is the 12-time NCAA All-American Swimmer, who's been speaking out against, you know, guys competing as women in women's sports. It's just, it's ridiculous

what we're doing to women. In the name of women, we're letting guys switch. It's just insanity. Anyway, and I was thinking about Riley, and I don't know if we've ever had her on. Riley, are you there? I'm here. How you doing? Glad you. Very good. Have I ever had you on? No, you haven't actually. Jeez, I don't know why. I just wanted to, I just, I wanted some good news at the end of the week and some people who were standing up and you were brought up yesterday. And I thought I wanted to just say thank you to you, Riley. Well, you know, what's actually so funny is it's been one year exactly since Leah Thomas competed against the women at our NCAA championships. And so this week, I'm actually at the NCAA championships watching my teammates, my old teammates and stuff.

And let me tell you, I have had so many female swimmers, parents, coaches come up to me and say the exact same thing, which I think is really important because it shows how the true majority of people, especially the ones who are directly impacted, feel about this. So I'm so grateful. It's so crazy that it requires courage to speak up about this insanity, but I appreciate your thing. Well, so let me ask you, where are these people? Because I am convinced every day that people know the truth. They know. They may not, you know, they may not be right on the truth, but pretty much our common sense gut is pretty good. And this stuff that's going on in almost all fronts, people are not for, but they won't say anything. Absolutely. People are scared. Coming from my experience and talking to other athletes again who were directly impacted, their universities, the links these universities are going to silence their voices.

It's actually really scary. How are they doing it? Well, based off my conversations with Leah Thomas' teammates who dealt with this every day, when they were concerned about sharing a locker room with someone who possessed was exposing Malginitalia, and they sent an email to their school, you know, expressing their concern. Their administration responded back with, if you feel uncomfortable seeing Malginatelia, here are some counseling resources that you should seek. They were forced to go to mandatory LGBTQ meetings every week. They were told that their school, that they were not allowed to use

their voice because their school has already taken their stance for them. They were told that they were responsible if any harm comes towards Leah Thomas's way. And so they're emotionally, blackmailing and threatening and intimidating their swimmers, which is, which like I said, it's terrifying. This is a country that thrives because we have so many freedoms, one of which being the freedom of speech. And we, I'm seeing that being taken away from these swimmers, from the parents, from people within the administration, from medical professionals even. Oh, I know. That's terrifying. The medical professionals that are being silenced now, it's absolutely horrifying what is going to happen.

That is the way to get group think in your medical profession. And when group think happens, we've seen it happen in the past before. And it never leads to anything but nightmares. No, you're 100% right. It's almost as if I feel like we're living in this George Orwell dystopian novel where they're trying to make us say two plus two is five. But we know two plus two is not five, but yet we have a sitting Supreme Court justice

who can't even say what a woman is because she's not a biologist. But guess what? Neither am I, neither are you. But we still know what a woman is. We know what womanhood entails. We know the differences between men and women, and to deny that is denying science.

It's denying common sense and logic and all the things. So how do you feel about, I think it wasn't at a Catholic school where they said they didn't want to be in a locker room with boys? And so the game was canceled and now they're not allowed to compete. Right. That right there shows you why more people aren't speaking up because this team, they were very straightforward about how this goes against. what they think the women's sporting category was created for. And now they're barred from other competitions. There's another girl in Vermont, actually, who spoke out.

She's 14. She's in high school. Same thing. She had a transgender individual on her volleyball team, and she spoke out, and she was immediately suspended from her high school. Her dad was immediately fired from his job. They tried to force her to write an apology to allow her back into school to which she refused, and then announced, of course,

she's filing a lawsuit to which the school quickly, let her back in. It's amazing. I have to tell you, Riley, you don't know this now, but you're young enough to where you will live to the other side of this. You and people like you are going to be remembered as real heroes in this time. Depending on how it goes, how bad it has to get before we wake up, the bigger of the statue they'll make of people like you, but it happens every time. You hold to your values while the country loses its mind and goes over a cliff.

It eventually comes back, and it's usually not in that person's lifetime, but they are remembered as leaders. Well, I think what you said is a perfect analogy of what's happening is we've swung too far. The pendulum, we have far exceeded what is sane. And I believe we're in the process of hopefully restoring that pendulum to normalcy. But I get told all the time, you know, you will be on the wrong side of history because you're not inclusive. You're not being kind. But guess what? Affirming these people, these males who want to identify as women infiltrate into our one-sex protected spaces, that is not kind and that is not inclusive.

We are not helping these individuals. We are harming them with women being the collateral damage in the process. Big time. So if you had advice to give to somebody to stand up, because I, you know, if I were leading a, if I were a coach, I'd be a very bad coach. But if I were a coach, I would make the case, girls, this is much more important than any award we could ever win. 100% What is, what would you, what advice would you give to, you know, anybody who is in this situation and not speaking out?

First and foremost, I think it's crucial that parents, coaches, the people who are supposed to be protecting us. Even me last year in the situation, I was 21 when all this happened. I was an adult, but I felt like someone was supposed to be protecting us in which there were. You know, like I said, parents, coaches, people within the NCAA, these are the people who need to use their voice. Then, of course, it comes to the female athletes, just like you said, and it took me a while to realize this, there is so much at stake when we're denying the sheer essence of humanity,

man and woman. We have got to be willing to stand firm in what that is and what our differences are and how we deserve to be recognized and celebrated, because when we allow, one man into our spaces. This is a slippery slope. It's only a matter of time before one male national champion becomes three and then five and so on and so forth. And people will take advantage of the system that we have in place. It's happening in prisons.

Just in California in the recent weeks, there's been 1,200 men applied to be in women's prisons because, of course, you get to be housed with women and these women are convicted of heinous things like rape and child pornography and kidnapping, but yet they're going to live with women because they say they are one. We have to be bold. We have to stand true. We have to stay educated on the topic, and I hate saying that because it makes me sound like some sort of advocate or activists. But it's important. We have to know that this is happening to believe the narrative that this is a non-issue. That cannot be further from the truth.

I could list off examples for the next hour of the radio show, but I don't want to bore you guys. But it's important to stay educated and to use your voice, be bold, stand firm, and your values. Because like I said, previously, this is the majority who fills the exact way I'm speaking. Riley, I don't know if you know this, but I collect history. And I've learned one thing, and that is there's been people in my life during my life that have done remarkable things and I have missed the opportunity to record that. And I don't want to miss those. You are one of those people, I think, that are important to our history. I would love for you to,

if you could, just even a page, just handwrite out your thoughts of why you stood and what you were standing for. So I could include it in our museum. And I'd love to have you come down at some point and do a podcast with me. You're great. Well, that sounds absolutely incredible, and I would be up for that any time. And I really appreciate you having me on and just continuing to shed light on this really important and detrimental issue. Riley, thank you. God bless. Yes, thanks.