Twelve-time All-American swimmer Riley Gaines Barker spoke at a forum in Coffman Union, hosted by Students for a Conservative Voice, on November 27. She spoke about when she faced an unfair challenge at the 2022 NCAA Women’s Swimming Championship: Tied down to one-hundredth of a second, Riley shared the pool with transgender swimmer Lia Thomas. Despite the tie, Riley was left wondering why the trophy was awarded to Lia, and she questioned the lack of support for women in sports.

This experience transformed Riley into a fierce advocate for fairness in sports. Her story is not just about swimming; it’s about defending and protecting opportunities for young women. Riley’s passionate stance against allowing biological men to compete in women’s sports echoes the sentiments of many who believe in preserving the integrity of female athletics.

At this event, Riley shared her inspiring journey and provided insights on the challenges faced by female athletes today.

During a Q&A session at the end of the forum, Riley was asked about the need to foster alliances across the political spectrum. The audience member’s question and her answer follow.

Question:

I think you’re right that the feminist movement is kind of turned on its head, but there are a couple of liberal feminists—I think the former swimming champ Nancy Hogshead, who’s now a sport sociology scholar, and the tennis great Martina Navratilova, who are really liberal on everything else. I’m wondering: Do you have a connection to them, or do they communicate with you? Do we need more of them to be the ones to win over the other side, because here you’re kind of preaching to the choir, and probably when you go to a Republican legislature, it’s the same thing. Do we need more of them, or how do you see this playing out?

Answer:

That’s absolutely what we need.

I will tell you, Nancy has become a dear friend, and she’s been an advocate for Title IX for women. She was a former world recordholder for swimming. She’s been incredible. You’re exactly right: Me and her probably don’t agree on a whole lot of other things, but I’ll tell you what, she is a dear friend and someone I very much look up to.

Same thing with Martina. There’s probably even less that her and I agree on, but again, someone who I would look to for advice and do look to for advice in regard to this topic.

And that is what we need. We need to extend beyond party lines because this issue should not be—it should never have become—political. It was inevitable that it would, because ultimately it is legislation that is going to, I believe, curb a lot of the nonsense.

I think what we’re seeing day by day are parents, and we’re seeing even a lot of people within the LGBT community who understand that this movement—the gender ideology movement as it pertains to safeguarding parental rights and of course this kind of erasure of women—they’re like, “Hold on, this doesn’t represent me. You know, I just what to marry who I want. That’s kind of just what I want.” So, we’re seeing people disassociate from specifically the TQ portion of the LGBTQ community. That’s what I’ve seen. I’ve talked to several people, including Martina, who kind of feel that way.

I do think we need to make allies where we can and be able to have civil discourse. That’s what’s lacking.

A lot of times, when I go to different colleges, and there’s hundreds of protestors there to protest me because I’m so “mean” and “scary” and “awful” and “terrible,” I invite them into the room. I ask them to come in, and I ask them to ask questions, because I would love to answer their questions. I would love to have some civil debate, but they’re unwilling the majority of the time, which I think when that’s the case, it shows you how… I believe on our side we do have common sense and logic and reasoning and, again, lived experience and science. (What happened to “follow the science”?) On their side, I think they have to persuade through acts of violence, which have certainly been thrown my way. I’ve been spit on, I’ve been hit, I’ve been punched, I’ve been held for ransom for four hours in a room where they demanded that I had to pay money if I wanted to make it home to my family safely, and I’ve had glass bottles thrown at me, drinks poured on me, and all this stuff. I think they have to resort to that because they’re unwilling to have conversation because I think they know how the conversation would end, which is with common sense prevailing, because it always does. Truth always prevails. Unfortunately, sometimes it takes some time.

But, yes, I certainly think we need those allies to convince the leaders of the Democrat Party that they’re not accurately representing how even their own party feels. Every poll shows it.