In recent months, I’ve gained a lot of genuine respect and admiration for Riley Gaines, the former 12-time NCAA All-American swimmer at the University of Kentucky. I respect her determination, level-headedness, and persistence; I admire her grit. She has made herself a thorn in the sides of many people who are in the business of denying some very basic biological realities, and we should all admire her for that.
I’m pretty sure Riley Gaines would have liked nothing better than to have had a normal college experience, including her time on the swim team. That’s not a lot to ask, after all, is it? In today’s world, though, it seems it is, and Riley’s jarring first exposure to today’s unrealistic expectations began when she was in the women’s locker room – and heard a man’s voice.
That put Riley Gaines on a mission to end the hideously unfair practice of allowing “transgender” women – men – to compete on women’s athletic teams. In her latest battle, she is testifying before a Georgia state senate panel on the topic. She pressured Georgia Tech president Angel Cabrera to testify as well.
Cabrera refused. As we read today in an exclusive at the Washington Examiner, Gaines wants to know what President Cabrera is hiding.
The president of Georgia Tech University is being pressured to testify before a special select committee on women’s sports to discuss the repercussions of transgender swimmer Lia Thomas using the same facilities as female athletes during a high-profile collegiate championship over two years ago.
Former college swimmer and women’s sports activist Riley Gaines implored President Angel Cabrera in a letter to participate in a hearing before the Georgia state Senate panel, accusing him of failing to protect female athletes at the university. The letter was sent just hours before Gaines and four other athletes are set to testify before the panel about their experiences sharing a locker room with Thomas while competing at a meet at the university in 2022.
“When I agreed to testify before this Georgia Senate Committee, I understood that you would be invited to testify. I thought then that by coming to testify I would at least get an answer to my question, ‘Why didn’t you protect me?’” Gaines wrote in her letter, which was first obtained by the Washington Examiner. “But I am here, and you have declined to testify.”
There’s a reason for that, and the reason is pretty obvious: Angel Cabrera didn’t want to appear before this committee and defend the indefensible.
See Related: New Hampshire: Judge Allows ‘Transgender’ Youths on Girl’s Soccer Teams
Riley Gaines is now demanding to know what President Cabrera is hiding, and it would be roundly interesting to see how Cabrera defends the following:
Gaines decried the university’s decision to allow “a naked adult man with full male genitalia” to share a locker room with “hundreds of college women who would themselves be naked, unable to hide, unable to protect our privacy.” The former collegiate swimmer claimed she was not informed Thomas would have access to the female locker rooms, noting she was made aware when “I heard a man’s voice and turned around and saw him a few feet in front of me naked inches away from where I was simultaneously unclothed.”
“Because you did nothing, that man walked into the women’s locker room at your university and saw me undressed down to nothing,” Gaines wrote. “I was unclothed. You allowed college women to be traumatized on your campus in this way. Why didn’t you protect me? Why didn’t you protect us?”
Let’s set aside the biological implications of allowing Lia Thomas – a man – to compete on a women’s swimming team. I’ve discussed those on many occasions (unlike Ketanji Brown Jackson, I am a biologist – Bachelor’s in Biology, University of Northern Iowa, 1987) and will no doubt have cause to discuss them again. Let’s just look at the social aspects of this. I am also, after all, the father of four daughters, and it is as the father of daughters that I write now.
It’s not bad enough that this young man was allowed into the women’s locker room based on nothing more than his assertion that he “identifies” as a woman. He can identify as a ham and Swiss sandwich on rye if he likes; that doesn’t make it true. Man he is, and man he remains. And it’s not bad enough that this man was allowed to parade his junk around all the young women in that locker room while they were similarly unattired.
No, the worst part of it was that Riley Gaines and her counterparts not only were not given any say in this matter – but that they weren’t even warned or allowed to opt out of being naked in front of a strange man. It was just sprung on them without warning, without easing them into the idea, without their having any say in the matter. At all.
That’s what Georgia Tech President Angel Cabrera doesn’t want to defend. That’s why he won’t appear in front of this committee. That’s why he won’t answer questions on the topic. And that’s why he doesn’t want to face Riley Gaines.
Cowards rarely enjoy facing the brave and determined; I leave it to you to determine which of the two people involved in this meet which characterization.