Riley Gaines, activist athletes call for prosecution against officials letting males in women's sports
Thursday marked exactly four months since President Donald Trump signed the "Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports" executive order. But incidents of trans inclusion in girls' and women's sports continue to persist across the country.
Democrat-stronghold states like California, Maine, Minnesota, Oregon and Washington have openly defied the order and deferred instead to their state laws on the issue, resulting in national controversies involving biological males competing in and often dominating high school girls' sports in recent months.
The Trump administration has launched investigations and even filed lawsuits to counter this wave of incidents. But press secretary Karoline Leavitt has suggested the administration could go a step further.
In an April 18 press conference, while discussing Maine's defiance on the issue, Leavitt asserted Trump's order and Title IX as federal law, noting that violators could be "prosecuted."
Since then, many Democrat-controlled states like Maine and California have refused to acquiesce to Trump's demands.
Former NCAA swimmer and conservative influencer Riley Gaines, the leading figure in the national movement to keep males out of women's sports, told Fox News Digital that she would support prosecution as a response to the issue.
"I would love to see prosecution because I believe what is happening is criminal," Gaines said. "The way that we have been told that a man's feelings matter more than our physical safety, than our rights to participate, to call ourselves champions, I believe that is a criminal action, therefore I believe it is a criminal offense.
"Someone somewhere has to be made an example of, otherwise you will have the woman-hating Democratic Party continue with full steam ahead.
Gaines, who infamously tied with trans swimmer Lia Thomas in the 2022 NCAA women's championships, was only one of many women who were impacted by Thomas' participation. The event was hosted at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Gaines said she believes that the school's president, Angel Cabrera, is one of the first that should be in line for prosecution over the issue.
"I believe university officials should be charged. I believe certainly that in the state of Georgia, that the Georgia Tech president, who has continued to be very smug, who has continued to not attest or answer to any of the claims that we are making that happened on his pool deck," Gaines said of those who should be prosecuted.
Fox News Digital has reached out to Georgia Tech for comment.
Gaines leads a lawsuit against the NCAA over her experience with Thomas alongside several other women's swimmers who competed in the 2022 championships. Those plaintiffs include former University of Kentucky swimmer Kaitlynn Wheeler and former University of North Carolina swimmer Kylee Alons.
Wheeler and Alons both agree with Gaines in supporting criminal prosecution against officials who have allowed trans athletes to compete in women's sports.
"I think that if schools, official states, whatever it is, are knowingly defying the law and violating Title IX especially by forcing girls to share locker rooms, change in front of boys, lose out on their opportunities, everything Title IX is supposed to stand for, I think there should be serious consequences," Wheeler told Fox News Digital.
"We're not just talking about policy disagreements, this is about knowingly stripping rights away from women and girls. If you break federal law there should be consequences like Riley said, and if that means prosecution in some of these states, then yeah, bring it on."
Alons questioned how one could not be in favor of prosecution against those officials.
"When you see the harm that this is causing women and girls, how could you not want to support prosecuting defying this?" Alons told Fox News Digital. "There's just so much harm being done and obviously there is a law for a reason, because it is causing harm so I would definetely support more action than just empty threats."
The attorney representing Gaines, Wheeler, Alons and other women in their lawsuit against the NCAA, William Bock of the Independent Council on Women's Sports, not only supports the notion of prosecuting officials letting the issue continue, but believes it's "necessary."
"At this point there's no excuse, the executive order has been in place since February 5," Bock told Fox News Digital. "People have known for four months now, and if three-four months later, you're still knowingly defying federal law, then of course a prosecution makes sense, and it's evidently necessary to protect women."
So far, Trump's enforcement of his executive order has only extended to a funding freeze to the University of Pennsylvania, where Thomas competed, temporary funding pauses against Maine that have since ended, and a Department of Justice lawsuit against Maine too.
Trump's administration has launched investigations against three other state high school sports leagues (California, Minnesota and Massachusetts) and the DOJ has given California a deadline of this upcoming Monday to amend its policies that allow trans athletes in girls' sports.
Gaines, Wheeler and Alons all find Trump's stance on the issue "refreshing" but would generally like to see more action.
"Hopefully we'll see enough with the warnings, that's how I feel," Gaines said. "We're ready to see some action."
Wheeler added, "The executive order is a good start, but we need more than that signature, we need really enforceable protection that will supersede his presidency… it's a step in the right direction, but we're not satisfied."
At the college level, Trump's executive order resulted in a change to the NCAA's gender eligibility policy just one day after the order was signed. Unlike the old policy, the new policy asserts that only females can compete in the women's category in official competition.
However, the new policy has come under heavy criticism by women's rights activists since it was signed for offering no tangible outline of how it will enforce the policy, and a lack of enforcing gender testing.
In late March, Ithaca College in New York admitted to letting a trans athlete compete in a Division III rowing competition, telling Fox News Digital that the participation of the trans athlete was due to a "misunderstanding" by the coaching staff about what was considered an official NCAA event, and referenced the policy's allowing of male practice players.
The NCAA has provided a statement to Fox News Digital, saying the competition the Ithaca trans athlete competed in "will be considered a mixed team and not eligible to compete against women's teams. Ithaca stated their intent to adhere to the policy which allows for practice opportunities and the NCAA appreciates Ithaca's responsiveness."
But the NCAA did not indicate that the results of the event would be voided or that Ithaca would face any consequences.
The initial goal of the Gaines vs. NCAA lawsuit was to force the governing body to keep biological males out of women's college sports entirely. In the wake of the policy change, the lawsuit's goal remains intact but also expanded.
"We've reached out to the NCAA and their attorneys and we've given them the opportunity to resolve this matter at least, if we can't reach an agreement on accountability for the past, to put in place a policy that actually protects women and has some enforceability behind it and ensures that only women participate in college women's sports," Bock said.
"We put that in writing and they haven't gone down that route with us… their policy is toothless and ineffective and doesn't protect the rights of women."
Bock added that their lawsuit will also be seeking monetary damages for all the female athletes who have been affected.
"These are significant damages and there were several hundred women were harmed and we think that a jury in Georgia is going to find that damage amount very significant."
Follow Fox News Digital's sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Washington Post
14 minutes ago
- Washington Post
Not just Mamdani: Centrist Democrats can win on affordability, too
Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nevada) still remembers her best tip ever, when she was a college student waiting tables outside Minneapolis for the local NHL team's holiday party. 'Nobody can party like hockey players,' Rosen said, recalling how they showed off their sport's hard-hitting nature by pulling out their fake teeth. 'They drank and spent so much money.' More than 45 years later, Rosen — who moved to Nevada after graduating from the University of Minnesota — has emerged as the biggest Democratic booster of a signature economic proposal from President Donald Trump. She co-sponsored a bill with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) to fulfill Trump's 2024 campaign promise for 'no taxes on tips,' the type of issue she experienced firsthand when the Minnesota North Stars left her a nearly $300 tip. A version of that legislation is tucked into the massive tax and immigration bill that Republicans are trying to pass on a party-line vote in the coming days. While every Democrat in Congress, including Rosen, opposes that broad legislation — largely because of its cuts to Medicaid — the Cruz bill won a unanimous vote last month in the Senate. If the massive legislation fails, Rosen will push her allies in the House to move a stand-alone tip bill to the president's desk. Her effort, fresh off a successful reelection bid in 2024, serves as a model for Democrats searching for a moderate approach to winning in swing districts and battleground states. Democrats are deep into internal battles drawn over generational and ideological fault lines and are debating how to use modern communications to get out their message. Many on the left see a model for winning in Zohran Mamdani, a 33-year-old democratic socialist poised to win the Democratic New York mayoral primary after running an online savvy campaign touting progressive ideas to fight inflation. Some centrist Democrats have pushed back against Mamdani for his far-left proposals, including free bus service and government-owned grocery stores. But similarities in the 33-year-old's mayoral bid and the 67-year-old senator's approach show the path to winning coalitions. Nevada was the only state that had twice voted against Trump but flipped to him last year — from a roughly 2.5 percentage point defeat in 2016 and 2020 to a more than 3 percentage point victory in 2024. But Rosen beat Trump-endorsed Republican Sam Brown by nearly 1.7 percentage points by embracing an aggressive approach to fighting inflation while positioning herself as an authentic voice, someone who didn't run her first political campaign until her late 50s. Rosen has held victory parties at Caesars Palace to remind folks that she was a cocktail waitress there. She gives off the political vibe of an encouraging aunt rather than career politician. 'It was really important to me to be present to people, for people, to listen to their stories,' she said in a recent interview. 'My motto is agree where you can, fight where you must.' In five presidential battleground states that hosted key Senate races, Democrats won four. Rosen was running her second statewide race ever, while Sens. Ruben Gallego (D-Arizona) and Elissa Slotkin (D-Michigan) were running their first and Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin) was running her third. Incumbent Bob Casey, who lost in Pennsylvania, was running his eighth statewide bid in three decades. Two figures from opposite ends of the Democratic ideology spectrum recently noted Mamdani, a state lawmaker since 2021, offered a fresh alternative to former governor Andrew M. Cuomo, 67, with personal scandal baggage. 'The people are clearly asking for generational change,' Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York), a liberal icon, told reporters. 'They are looking for a new generation of leadership,' Slotkin said during a policy address touting her centrist vision. Republicans take a different view of Rosen's and Slotkin's victories, blaming their big-money donors for not believing in the GOP nominees until it was too late. 'Many didn't believe we had a chance to win. And the money was late breaking there. But I think had we had the resources earlier, Sam Brown would have won,' Sen. Steve Daines (Montana), who chaired the National Republican Senatorial Committee last year, said in a brief interview. Rosen raised about $50 million for her campaign, more than twice as much as Brown's, and outside political groups favored Rosen by an edge of about $55 million to $45 million, according to Open Secrets. Rosen received 4,000 fewer votes than Kamala Harris did at the top of the Democratic ticket, while Brown fell about 75,000 votes shy of Trump's tally. Rosen did have better appeal than Harris in what Nevadans call 'the rurals,' lightly populated conservative areas far from the Las Vegas Strip. Humboldt County, in the northernmost stretch of the state, favored Trump by more than 4,400 votes while Brown won by 3,662 votes. Rosen believes that national Democrats face higher hurdles in rural areas where they never campaign and end up branded with 'all that noise' from conservative media outlets. She overcame some of that as an incumbent senator with time to visit those parts of the state. 'You can't be everywhere. But in Nevada and some other states, people can really get to know you. So it is absolutely an advantage,' Rosen said. Rosen instantly knew the moment Trump started talking about 'no taxes on tips' that it would resonate in a state where roughly 1 in 4 workers are in the hospitality industry. They probably either receive tips or have close friends and family working for tips. That industry got crushed during the pandemic, and now inflation has prompted another decline in tourist visits to Las Vegas. 'It's such a variable job. You don't know what your tips are going to be day in and day out. One day good, one day not so good,' Rosen said. While Harris also supported eliminating taxes on tips, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (Nevada) was the only other Democrat to join Rosen in co-sponsoring Cruz's bill. Culinary Workers Union Local 226, Nevada's largest union, also endorsed the proposal. Some Democrats on Capitol Hill have been hesitant to embrace the no-tax-on-tips policy, worried it is unfair to workers who receive a regular hourly wage. Critics of the proposal say the biggest beneficiaries of such a policy are staff at high-end restaurants who are already making high salaries, not the lowest-paid workers in the service industry. It could create a rush on employers shifting their workers into a tipped-wage system, leading to customers facing tip requests in places that rarely used to have them. But Rosen knew that Nevada, with the lowest percentage of college graduates of any battleground state, would embrace a proposal that appealed to its working-class image. 'We're always trying to find ways to put more money back into people's pockets,' the onetime culinary union member said. Without a deeply partisan background, she doesn't hesitate to break from her party's orthodoxy on issues including crime and border security. Rosen used her financial edge to start airing ads at least six months ahead of the election that ref far-left ideas such as defunding the police and open borders. 'I work with both parties on things like helping veterans exposed to burn pits and stood up to my own party to support police officers and get more funding for border security,' she said in one ad. Many of these positions run counter to the ideas embraced by Mamdani, Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont). But some Democrats point to issues Mamdani highlighted as appealing to most voters, allowing swing-district candidates to graft their own policy prescriptions into what fits their voters. 'It's not the left versus the middle — to win, it must be both. Mamdani's focus helps preview many of the issues liberals and moderates can embrace: affordability, quality of life and opposing slashing health care,' Steve Israel, the former New York Democratic congressman who ran the party's House campaign operation for four years, wrote in his Substack after the mayoral primary. For Rosen, that lesson goes all the way back to the time a bunch of professional hockey players got rowdy and left her a massive pile of cash. Rosen, who can't remember if she reported that tip on her taxes, moved away a few years later, and the North Stars became the Dallas Stars. But she always remember that lesson, one that resonates with a huge amount of voters in Nevada. 'Your tips were everything,' she said.
Bloomberg
25 minutes ago
- Bloomberg
Weekend Law: Final SCOTUS Decisions & Dogs Are Family
Constitutional law expert David Super, a professor at Georgetown Law, discusses the Supreme Court limiting judge's use of nationwide injunctions. First Amendment law expert Caroline Mala Corbin, discusses the Supreme Court bolstering the rights of religious parents. Christopher Berry, the Executive Director of the Nonhuman Rights Project, discusses a New York judge ruling that dogs are part of the family. June Grasso hosts.
Bloomberg
35 minutes ago
- Bloomberg
Weekend Law: Final SCOTUS Opinions & Dogs Are Family
Constitutional law expert David Super, a professor at Georgetown Law, discusses the Supreme Court limiting judge's use of nationwide injunctions. First Amendment law expert Caroline Mala Corbin, discusses the Supreme Court bolstering the rights of religious parents. Christopher Berry, the Executive Director of the Non Human Rights Project, discusses a New York judge ruling that dogs are part of the family. June Grasso hosts.
