Riley Gaines comes to Mater Dei to speak on transgender athletes
EVANSVILLE, Ind. (WEHT) — 12-time NCAA All-American swimmer Riley Gaines spoke at Mater Dei High School as part of a Right to Life of Southwest Indiana event.
Gaines tied with transgender swimmer Lia Thomas at the 2022 NCAA championships.
Since then she's been advocating for barring transgender athletes from competing in girl's and women's sports.
'Really this was a less than average male swimmer competing at the Division One level, ranking in the four hundred and five hundreds nationally the year prior, to, just twelve months later, dominating the entire country of women,' said Gains.
As Gains spoke inside Mater Dei High School, the conversation concerning transgender athletes in women's sports continues across the country. Even at the state house level where they are currently debating House Bill 1041.
The proposed bill would limit participation in women's college athletics to only student-athletes assigned female at birth.
Extremely similar to the new ruling from the NCAA in February and executive orders from President Trump and Indiana Governor Mike Braun.
'Biological males are inherently bigger, stronger, and faster than biological females. That is the basis for why they should not be able to participate in a classification for females,' says Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame inductee Nikki Cerbone.
According to the NCAA there are 10 trans athletes participating at the division one level out of 500,000 total athletes.
Those opposed to House Bill 1041 say that it is targeting a vulnerable group.
'I am here to talk to you as a parent to three children, one happens to be transgender,' says mother of a transgender athlete Beth Clawson. 'My daughter has loved playing sports until recently. She is now in middle school and won't play anything because one, she's not allowed to and two, because she feels fear. She has been told by most of the legislatures in this room that she doesn't belong there.'
House Bill 1041 is still awaiting a vote.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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