Riley Gaines Claims She Peeped Lia Thomas’ Peen

The swimmer, who once tied for fifth place with Lia Thomas, has found a new angle on her anti-trans grift.

by Evan Urquhart

a woman in a swim cap and goggles, seen from behind, standing with the lanes of a pool in the background

As conservatives shift their focus from banning trans women from competing in sports to criminally prosecuting trans women for swimming in YMCA pools, the story told by anti-trans swimmer Riley Gaines is being refocused as well. Gaines is notable for having tied for fifth place with Thomas, behind four other swimmers, all of whom were cis women. Gaines seems to now be shifting her focus to talk more about having watched Lia Thomas change in the locker room, back when the two faced off in the 200 freestyle final at the NCAA Women’s Championships.

the 12-time All-American and five-time SEC champion urged the National Collegiate Athletic Association to make separate locker rooms for transgender athletes, recounting her own discomfort when she was exposed to Thomas' "male genitalia"

screenshot from Fox News

Gaines, who was interviewed for Fox News after attending the State of the Union address as the guest of an anti-trans congresswoman, describes turning around to look at her competitor while the trans woman was undressing. Naturally she presents this as inappropriate behavior on the part of Thomas, essentially accusing her fellow swimmer of indecent exposure for having changed her clothes in the lockers at a swim meet. Gaines went on to say that she considers turning around to gawk at a fellow swimmer’s genitals “worse than the competition piece.”

This re-focusing of her story, away from the competitive advantages she believes the swimmer she tied for fifth place has, and on to having briefly seen her competitor naked, may be related to Gaines’ changing career plans. Although Gaines once intended to go into dentistry, she’s now pursuing anti-trans grifting full time.

screenshot from Fox News

What new twists and turns will the story of the woman who tied a trans woman for fifth place at a swim meet take? Whatever those may be, we’ll cover them right here with all the respect and dignity a professional anti-trans campaigner deserves.

Previous
Previous

Mike Pence Joins the Transphobe Primary

Next
Next

Sirona Ryan is Not Canonically Transgender