All-American swimmer Riley Gaines unloaded on college student Thursday Williams, who testified before the Senate in favor of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), accusing her of “virtue-signaling.”
Gaines shared video of Williams’ testimony, in which she claimed that college students were not really concerned about biological males dressing alongside and competing against biological females — and then she followed that clip with her own response.
“My response to Thursday Williams, a virtue-signaling non-athlete who was present today at a Senate Judiciary Hearing for the Equal Rights Amendment. We DO care,” Gaines captioned her video.
WATCH:
My response to Thursday Williams, a virtue-signaling non-athlete who was present today at a Senate Judiciary Hearing for the equal rights amendment. We DO care. pic.twitter.com/wBdspqJ8th
— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) February 28, 2023
In the included clip, Williams addressed the Senate and asserted, “There are a lot of concerns about … men performing in women’s sports, and I am here as a young woman of color who is in her senior year of college … we’re not worried about that.”
“I am not worried about that,” she continued, shaking her head and laughing. “It’s the truth, we’re not.”
Gaines then added her own response in a series of brief video clips, arguing first and foremost that Williams had never been a collegiate athlete who was subjected to the situation that she claimed to not be concerned about.
“She is not and never was a collegiate athlete, so her saying ‘we’ are not worried about men competing against women is disingenuous and displays her utter disregard for female athletes and really women in general,” Gaines said. “Why don’t you ask me, an actual female collegiate athlete who has experienced competing against a male, how I and my teammates and athletes around the country felt about giving up our awards and our titles and our scholarships to men.”
“We were the ones who practiced day in and day out, making physical, mental, and social sacrifices,” Gaines continued, noting that they had made all of those sacrifices only to watch as they were taken away by someone who had a clear biological advantage.
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Gaines went on to talk about being forced to change in the same room as transgender athlete Lia Thomas, who was still biologically male and fully intact — and being bullied into silence by the colleges and the NCAA in order to protect Thomas’ claimed identity.
“@BeingTdubs, I hope you see this and realize how your comment comes off to women who have worked their whole lives to excel in their sports. You might not care about women’s safety, ability to give consent, and fairness in sports, but the overwhelming majority of female athletes do,” Gaines added in a follow-up tweet.
