NEWNow you can listen to Pak Gazette articles!
Riley Gaines delivered a moving message to Democrats who have supported transgender athletes against efforts to protect women’s and girls’ sports as major Supreme Court cases loom.
Gaines, host of the OutKick podcast and former NCAA star swimmer who has fought to keep men out of women’s and girls’ sports, appeared on Pak Gazette Channel’s “Faulkner Focus” and suggested that those opposing the sports movement to save women were doing girls, like her daughter, a disservice.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON PakGazette.Com
Riley Gaines speaks during the 10X Ladies Conference hosted by Elena Cardone at the JW Marriott Miami Turnberry Resort & Spa on August 15, 2025 in Aventura, Florida. (Iván Apfel/Getty Images)
“In the last three months, my perspective on everything has changed. Things that I thought I would never care about feel critical,” Gaines said. “The things that, at one time, worried you deeply, seem mundane. I’ll tell you, my daughter… she will be here with me tomorrow on the steps of the Supreme Court because that is what we are fighting for.
“So, all these Democrats who think they’re giving the middle finger to President Trump by taking the opposite side of this issue, they’re not the ones who are being given the middle finger. They’re giving the middle finger to my 3-month-old daughter, and honestly, it could make me cry even talking about this. That’s what I’m fighting for.”
Supreme Court justices will hear arguments in Little v. Hecox and West Virginia v. BPJ on Tuesday.
Idaho and West Virginia are among nearly 30 states with laws that prevent transgender students who identify as women from competing on women’s sports teams sponsored by public schools and universities. In 2020 and 2021, trans athlete plaintiffs successfully challenged Idaho and West Virginia laws, respectively, to allow their participation on women’s and girls’ sports teams.
Both trans athletes are represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
Riley Gaines signs copies of her book outside the Fiserv Forum during the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Wednesday, July 17, 2024. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
THE ATHLETES, COACHES, LEGISLATORS AND OFFICIALS WHO HAVE CHOSEN A SIDE IN THE SCOTUS WOMEN’S SPORTS BATTLE
The judges will examine whether the landmark federal law, Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination in education, applies in these inclusion cases.
In 2020, Idaho became the first state to pass these types of restrictions with the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act.
Both sides in the legal dispute have accused each other of peddling false and misleading facts, terminology and narratives about the application of state laws and what is at stake for transgender and cisgender athletes.
States that have these types of laws, and the groups and legislators who support them, say the issue is about common sense and student safety.
Lawyers will tell the high court that there are inherent physical differences between women and men, and that these legislative acts would ensure that those they call “male” or “male” students cannot compete on women’s sports teams that involve competitive skills or contact.
But LGBTQ+ rights advocates say those laws and labels are clearly discriminatory and were never a big problem until some states tried to politicize them.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE Pak Gazette APP
In July, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the states’ separate appeals and is expected to issue final, binding rulings on the merits in late June.
