The 12-time All-American swimmer, Riley Gaines, once again found herself swimming against the current on the weekend, admonishing ESPN for honouring Lia Thomas in a segment of the sports network’s Celebrating Women’s History Month special..Gaines has been a loud voice for keeping transgender women, such as Thomas, a biological male who began identifying as female a few years ago, from competing against biological females at the highest levels of the sport..Gaines blasted Thomas as a 'he' who 'stole a national title', says Blaze News.. Lia ThomasLia Thomas .The tribute to Thomas was tweeted by OutKick's David Hookstead, in which Thomas says, "Being trans is not a choice. I didn't have any other choice because not transitioning was not leading me anywhere.".Gaines took umbrage on Twitter with Hookstead's tweet.."Lia Thomas is not a brave, courageous woman who EARNED a national title," she wrote and then dropped what is considered a no-go pronoun, “He is an arrogant, cheat who STOLE a national title from a hardworking, deserving woman. The @ncaa is responsible. If I was a woman working at ESPN, I would walk out. You're spineless @espn." .“The act of "misgendering" biological males who identify as females — e.g., saying he instead of she — gets leftists riled up and often results in severeconsequences for guilty parties,” reports Blaze News..Gaines was also in the headlines recently, when she opened up about a race she and Thomas competed against each other in, the women's 200-yard freestyle finals at last year's NCAA championships, in which she tied Thomas for fifth place..She said later that officials cheated her on the podium..“Gaines told the Daily Wirethat a man in an NCAA shirt told her, “Hey, I just want to let you know we only have one fifth-place trophy, so yours will be coming in the mail. We went ahead and gave the fifth-place trophy to Lia, but you can pose on the podium with the sixth-place trophy,” reports Blaze News..Gaines said she had a brief argument with the official, pointing out Thomas swam into the spotlight by winning the national title in the 500: “OK, that’s fine, she worked hard, just like I worked hard, there’s no question there. But can I ask why she gets the fifth-place trophy before I do? Especially last night, she just won the national title,” she told the Daily Wire..She told the news outlet the response from the official was, “I just want you to know that we respect you and admire your swim so much, but we just want Lia to hold the fifth-place trophy.”.It’s not just having to compete against a biological male that has Gaines upset..“Last summer Gaines detailed her "extreme discomfort" over being forced to share a locker room with Thomas at the NCAAs,” reports Blaze News.."So, not only were we forced to race against a male, we were forced to change in the locker room with one," Gaines told Fox News host Tucker Carlson. "That’s not something we were forewarned about, which I don’t think is right in any means, changing in a locker room with someone who has different parts."
