Riley Gaines Changed Her Story About Lia Thomas

Feb 15

Last April, Gaines admitted there were no other locker rooms Thomas could have used, and that the other swimmer did nothing inappropriate.

by Evan Urquhart

A trans writer who interviewed Riley Gaines in April of last year has come forward with discrepencies between how Gaines has recently described fellow swimmer Lia Thomas’ conduct in the locker room, and what Gaines said about Thomas’ behavior before.

The headline on a recent Fox News story quoted some of the more inflammatory language Gaines has used in recent weeks, blaring “Lia Thomas exposed 'male genitalia' in women's locker room after meet, Riley Gaines says: Dropped 'his pants'.” This was from an interview Gaines did for Fox’s America Reports program last week:

"...in that locker room we turned around, and there's a 6'4" bioloigcal man dropping his pants and watching us undress, and we were exposed to male genitalia," Gaines said. — screenshot from Fox News

Later in the interview Gaines tripled down on the accusatory language, describing what Thomas did in the locker room as sexual assault and voyeurism.

"Not even probably a year, two years ago, this would have been considered some form of sexual assault, voyeurism." — screenshot from Fox News

But in the past, Gaines never told the story this way. Kristina Konwerski, a transgender writer, says she spoke with Gaines last April. Konwerski wrote a detailed substack post about the controversy over Thomas on April 3, and says she followed that up with an interview with Gaines, but never wound up publishing the results. Konwerski still has the transcript of her interview, though, and says Gaines made it clear at the time that Thomas never did anything to make her or the other swimmers feel uncomfortable.

a paragraph from an interview Gaines did with Konwerski that starts out "I never felt uncomfortable around Lia or because of Lia."

Gaines went on to say that there were no other available locker rooms for Thomas to use.

A paragraph from Konwerski's interview that includes the sentence "It was an all women's meet so there were only women's locker rooms even available for use."

What has changed since last April, apart from Gaines’ story? For one thing, the GOP has tripled-down on anti-trans rhetoric, making attacks on trans people their top legislative priority in 2023. These attacks have included a focus on pools and locker rooms, including spreading the lie that a young woman was saw a penis at a YMCA in CA, and charging another trans woman with three misdemeanors for changing clothes in a locker room at a YMCA in Ohio.

Another thing that’s changed for Gaines seems to be her career plans. She also told Fox News that she had previously planned to pursue a career in dentistry, but she’s put her career plans on hold to pursue anti-trans activism full time.

Riley GainesLia ThomasFOXanti-trans propagandalocker roomsswimming