← The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
The Assault by Men Playing in Women's Sports: An Exclusive one-on-one w Riley Gaines
00:43:42
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- [00:01]
Ben Ferguson
Welcome. It is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you as always and center. Every once in a while, you and I get to do a show that I, I say is, is one of those where I ask people to share it. And especially if you have girls, if you have kids that are athletes, if you want to defend women and women's rights and sports, this is one of those episodes that will be around forever. And it's a really important conversation. We've been planning on doing this for a while and now we've actually gotten to have the conversation that's so important, and that is with Riley Gaines, someone that you've had testify that you brought to Congress that had powerful testimony.
- [00:44]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, that's exactly right. We have a special guest on this podcast. It's Riley Gaines. Riley Gaines was a. An amazingly talented athlete who found herself her senior year competing against a biological male, Leah Thomas. And what happened to her, it wasn't fair, it wasn't right. And then she's shown just remarkable courage, speaking out against it and shining a light at what's happening, and she's paid a price for that. You and I have both gotten to know Riley and her courage is a lot of people admire it. And so on this podcast today, we're just going to let Riley tell her story because I think her story is going to inspire you. But it also speaks powerfully for fairness and against the madness of the current ideological left.
- [01:32]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah, no doubt about it. And she's also doing a lot of college speaking. And if you've got kids or grandkids at universities and she comes that campus, I'm telling you, check out what she's doing on. It's making a huge impact on protecting women's sports. Want to tell you real quick about Patriot Mobile. Americans are just sick and tired of, well, giving their money to woke liberal companies. And, you know, they may not realize just how liberal Big Mobile has become. Big Mobile gives big donations to Democratic causes, candidates and organizations. We're talking about radical organizations, organizations that actually advocate and pay for abortions. Well, that is where Patriot Mobile was created more than a decade ago. It was a group of Christian conservatives that got together and they said, we cannot keep giving our money to companies that are fighting against our values. And look, with a cell phone, 99% of you listening have one. So it is one of those everyday bills you're have. Why not make a difference when you pay that bill every month and work with a company that's actually fighting to protect our values? Patriot Mobile, I'm proud to tell you about them because they fight every month and they take a percentage of your bill every month at no extra cost to you. And they give it back to organizations that fight for our first and our second amendment rights, that fight for the sanctity of life as well as our military, our first responders and our wounded warrior heroes. So take a stand for conservative causes and put America first. By switching to Patriot Mobile, you're going to get the same nationwide coverage as the big providers give you because they all use the same towers now. They all use the same networks now. And they back their service with a coverage guarantee. Go to patriotmobile.com verdict patriotmobile.com verdict or call them 972-patriot right now and you're going to get a free month when you use the offer code verdict 972 patriot or patriot mobile.com verdict join me and switch to America's only Christian conservative mobile provider, patriot mobile.com verdict promo code verdict or 972patriot now.
- [03:43]
Senator Ted Cruz
I'm glad to welcome to the podcast someone who's become a friend and someone who I really admire, Riley Gaines. Riley Gaines was an all American swimmer at the University of Kentucky and she competed in the 2022 NCAA Division 1 Women's Swimming and Diving Championships where she competed against University of Pennsylvania's Leah Thomas, a biological man who much of the politically correct world refused to insist, refused to admit that he was physically male. And I'll tell you, Riley, I think has shown incredible courage speaking up not just for herself, but I think for every young girl, every young woman, everyone that wants to see women's sports and girls sports continue and continue to be a fair and real competitive landscape. And so, Riley, thank you for joining Verdict. We're really glad to have you.
- [04:31]
Riley Gaines
Well, thank you. Thank you both. It is a joy, as always to be on with you, to be chatting with you. So very much appreciate you guys.
- [04:40]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, it's. Thank you for your courage. All right, I'll tell you what. Let's just start by telling your story. Tell us where you grew up, how you got into swimming and how, you know, you didn't seek this out. This kind of landed on top of.
- [04:53]
Riley Gaines
You, to put it lightly. Yeah. I grew up in Nashville, Tennessee, many generations back. We are, I'm a native, which is, as you guys know, in Texas there are very few of us Nashvillians who are, who are born and raised, but I am one of them come from a family of athletes. My dad is an SEC hall of Famer. He played football. My mom he played softball. My oldest sister went to Ole Miss and she played softball. And my brother, he's in college. He plays football. My youngest sister, she is 15. She is an elite level gymnast. And never tell her this, but she's probably the best athlete out of all of us. My dad went on to play in the league for a while. All my uncles won Super Bowls, all the things. So I come from the family of sports. I am, by the way, can we.
- [05:42]
Ben Ferguson
Just pause for that one moment? Did you hear that, TC?
- [05:45]
Senator Ted Cruz
I heard the Ole Miss, and I heard your legs start tripling with excitement.
- [05:51]
Ben Ferguson
I mean, you know, there's just greatness here. But Ole Miss, another Ole Miss, and athletes at that. I'm just going to bask in this moment of excitement. And I apologize, but that's a big moment here, so keep going, because Hotty Toddy.
- [06:03]
Senator Ted Cruz
All right. And I gotta say, by the way, Riley, so you came from Tennessee but then went to University of Kentucky. That's. That's quite the move.
- [06:09]
Riley Gaines
I know, I know. You know, Ben, I've got to ask, are you familiar with the Chucky Mullins story?
- [06:16]
Ben Ferguson
Oh, my gosh, yes. So Chucky Mullins, I mean, obviously a legend, but I remember when he got hurt and George Bush 41 actually visited him in the hospital at the Med in Memphis. Because when they. When they brought him to Memphis after he was the spinal cord injury and George Bush 41 came and visited him, it was a story I'll never forget. And if you don't know football, for people that are listening, there is still a bus of Chucky Mullins. And every player touches basically his head as they're running the bus of him, as they're running on the field for every home game.
- [06:53]
Riley Gaines
So my father was the player that Chucky tackled that game and so run very, very deep with Ole Miss and all the things. So it's always good to be talking with Ole Miss fans, even after, hey, Kentucky, that win this past weekend, come on.
- [07:12]
Ben Ferguson
I was waiting for you to throw that in there. I was. I was like, how long is it going to be until the decorum just disappears from his appearance? You guys. You guys look good. I'm not gonna lie. You almost had Georgia. And I was worried. And I actually got a text from a, I will say, unnamed sec who I'm good friends with. And he was. He said literally before the game, in a tax, he's like, dude, I'm not joking. You guys better watch out. They're better than everyone thinks this year. And that proved to be true.
- [07:45]
Riley Gaines
Well, that's good to hear. But, yeah, you know, I do. It was. It was. I didn't know I was going to go to Kentucky. I thought. Truthfully, my entire life, I thought I was going to be a Florida Gator. Ever since middle school, I. That's what I thought was in store for me. I remember taking my official visit there. Truth be told, I could have gone anywhere in the country that I wanted to go. And so, you know, I'm weighing the pros and the cons. And I remember being on my visit and one of the coaches who was, you know, walking us around all day and assisting the recruits, I asked him, I said, how do you know if you're at the right place? And he said, well, we're going to take you to a football game. You're going to go on the field, you're going to hear the fight song. And if you get the chills when the fight song plays, you'll know you're at the right place. And so we're on the field, you know, it's a big. It's a big stadium. And the fight song starts playing. And I kid you not, I just remember thinking, everyone starts doing that weird chomp thing. I'm like, this is the weirdest thing ever. And orange is objectively ugly. I don't want to be wearing orange. No, thank you. Kept taking my trips, went to Kentucky, and I just. I fell in love with the university. Had a pretty illustrious career there. 12 time All American, 5 time SEC champion, actually the SEC record holder in the 200 butterfly, making me one of the fastest Americans of all time. Two time Olympic trial qualifier, SEC Scholar Athlete of the year, SEC Community service leader of the year. But again, just. Just really, to reiterate, it's a lifelong journey.
- [09:11]
Senator Ted Cruz
All right, Riley, go back, because I was looking at your bio and it actually said 12x all American. And I was like, 12x. How can that be possible? So I didn't mention the 12x, like, 12 times. That's pretty far out there.
- [09:25]
Riley Gaines
Yeah, no, it's. It's. I look back now and. And it is wild to think again, all that goes into it. We train six hours every single day. You're swimming 15,000 yards, which is about 10 miles, every single day. Three of those hours are before 8:00am it's brutal. And so I look back and I'm really proud. I'm proud of my. All the things that I was able to achieve, not just in the pool, but. But also academically and within my service. And really, really, it's Wild to look back on, but yeah, 12 times. It was definitely even dealing with COVID during all of this, we were rocked of an NCAA championships in that way. It's crazy to look back on, that's for sure.
- [10:12]
Senator Ted Cruz
All right, so tell us how guys and women's sports intruded on your experience.
- [10:20]
Riley Gaines
So my senior year, I was. Had a goal of winning a national title, which would of course mean becoming the fastest woman in the country. I'm right on pace to achieve this until the NCAA allows a man, a mediocre man at that, actually, that's probably generous. A less than average man competing in his rightful category, the men's category, where he swam for three years on University of Pennsylvania's men's team ranking, you know, in the 400s and 500s nationally, to then switching to the women's team in his final year to where he would dominate. He went on to win a national title in the 500 freestyle. And the event that he and I raced in the 200 free, we actually tied in, which is really rare. Right. It's virtually impossible when you're racing for a minute and 40ish seconds to go the exact same time down to the hundredth of a second. It's also mildly embarrassing for 6 foot 4 man. He couldn't even beat me.
- [11:18]
Senator Ted Cruz
Yeah. How tall are you? You're not that tall.
- [11:21]
Riley Gaines
No, I'm like a whopping five, five, five, six, maybe. So he's.
- [11:26]
Senator Ted Cruz
So he's got almost a full foot on you.
- [11:28]
Riley Gaines
That's right. That's right.
- [11:30]
Senator Ted Cruz
And that's a lot of arms and a lot of legs.
- [11:32]
Riley Gaines
Oh, you're telling me his feet on the block. You know, you're standing on the starting block, and you look at the visual of him next to seven women, and his feet take up the whole entire block. Obviously, he's tall and his arms are lanky. He still has his Adam's apple. Forget the bulge. That is very glaringly obvious in his women's swimsuit. Ladylike is not the word I would use to describe Mr. Thomas. But really what thrusted me over the edge into no longer being willing to. To lie. I mean, to wait for someone else. That's what I was doing. I was waiting for someone else to say something. Was after we tied, we go behind the awards podium where the NCAA official looked at both Thomas and myself and said, great job, you two, but you tied. And we only have one trophy. And we're going to give that trophy to Leah because we've been advised as an organization that when photos are Being taken. It's crucial that the trophy is in Leah's hands.
- [12:36]
Senator Ted Cruz
Wow.
- [12:37]
Riley Gaines
Ultimately our entire lives for down to a photo op.
- [12:42]
Ben Ferguson
So was it even a conversation or was it more like we're dictating to you? Because I, I've dealt with the NCAA when, when I was playing and I, I've, I, I've said this about the NCAA for a long time. They treat us as athletes like we are their slaves and we have basically once you're in their system you have no rights. They all about making money. It's a mafia is my opinion on the ncaa. I think it's. It been a terrible organization for far too long and taking advantage of far too many athletes. You're the biggest example of that in my opinion. But like was there even a conversation like with your coach or your AD or anyone that was representing you?
- [13:24]
Riley Gaines
There was no conversation at any point the whole season forget the trophy and said there, there was no. Actually it was the exact opposite of a conversation. We had to do all of the training and learn how to. And inclusive and about pronouns. As a 21 year old senior in college they made me go to sensitivity training and literally word for word the verbiage that they use was I had to keep going through this training until they felt like I had been re educated enough. I will say I had great support from my coaches. There's no doubt about that. My coaches, I mean my coach was my best friend for four years really and he was very supportive. My head coach, my athletic director, Mitch Barnhart at the University of Kentucky. He's been the AD for 20 plus years. He is an incredible, I mean an incredible human. He is a wonderful Christian. He leads by example. I had tremendous support from him as well. I still, I mean we talk today. I still stay in touch with him. But, but the academic institutional side of things, that's where a lot of this forceful, I mean the trainings and all the stuff, it came from the academia side of the university.
- [14:37]
Senator Ted Cruz
Now what are the record books show? Do they list you as the national champion? What do they say?
- [14:43]
Riley Gaines
They just show a tie. That's what it shows. My university went on to nominate me for NCAA Woman of the year which is the most prestigious honor for collegiate female athletes to which I was super excited about this. It's a very humbling award, but this was incivable. Women of the year was not exclusive to just women because Thomas was also nominated. So bless the ncaa. Yeah. To your point Ben, they have remained and continue to remain the weak kneed, spineless morally bankrupt cowards that they are.
- [15:20]
Ben Ferguson
I want to take a moment real quick and just pause and say thank you to all of you that have been helping the people in Israel through the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. And with the barbaric attack now directly from Iran that was launched on Israel, they are now needing more help than ever before. Iran's ballistic missile attack against Israel that happened shows you what the people of Israel are having to deal with every single day, in fact, every moment of every day. And now is the time that we need to help the people in Israel. And I'm asking you to give now and give as generously as you can to our friends at the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, because they are providing safety. They are providing bomb shelters, they are providing food and water in those bomb shelters, and they are providing security for God's chosen people during this critical time. It is easy to get involved. You can go right now to support IFCJ.org that support IFCJ.org IFCJ is on the ground and they are involved instantly when these attacks happen. They are making sure that there are enough bomb shelters that can help the people that are under attack. They've also been doing an amazing job getting out armored vehicles. Armored vehicles are really expensive. And IFCJ has been leading the way with armored vehicles to help people that are injured, help get people out of areas that are under attack. They have even provided and has saved countless lives, armored ambulances. This is an organization, I am proud to say, when you may give a donation, you are having an instant direct impact on the needs and in protecting the people in Israel. So if you can give, please give now and as generously as you can, go to supportifcj.org all one word, supportifcj.org and help the people that are under attack by Iran this time in Israel. Right now, there's two parts of this story, and I think part of it is the ncaa, but the other part of it is the threat to female athletes. And your sport is not one where there's like interaction directly with one person, like there is in posting up in basketball or football or field hockey or even volleyball, for example. Yours is, you know, you're in your la, but there is still a very real threat to women, you specifically when you have to share a locker room with a grown man. And I'm assuming the NCAA did not protect you from that scenario at all.
- [18:23]
Riley Gaines
Again, they did the exact opposite of protect us. They told us that we weren't even allowed to oppose this. Actually they we weren't even forewarned that we would be sharing the locker room. But then, of course, once we understood the reality of the situation, only after being exposed and exploited simultaneously exploited to a 6 foot 4 naked man, inches fully intact, by the way, and had no problem exposing himself inches away from where we were simultaneously fully undressed and approaching, you know, an official on the pool deck, I will never forget. I went up to him and I said, hey, what in the world? I understand the guidelines that allowed a man into the pool with us. Sure, those guidelines are posted, whatever. But what in the. What guidelines allowed a man into our locker room? And so nonchalantly, this official responded back with, oh, well, we actually got around this by making the locker rooms unisexual. Meaning first, I remember the first thought that came through my head actually was, okay, you realize by admitting you had to change the rules, you're admitting that Thomas isn't a woman, right? You realize that. But secondly, unisex. So any man, any coach, any official, any parent, any pervert who wanted to, quite frankly, could come down there and share this changing space with us. In bare minimum. We weren't even forewarned about this.
- [19:51]
Senator Ted Cruz
Did any of the women get a choice, get an option to opt out, to say, look, I really don't want to undress with a naked man?
- [19:58]
Riley Gaines
No, there was no place on the pool deck that we could have gone that Thomas did not have access to. And I really cannot put into words the feelings of. I mean, of course it's awkward, it's embarrassing, it's uncomfortable, it's humiliating, but really, it's feelings of utter violation and feelings of. Of betrayal. And I mean, it's traumatizing, really. And not even necessarily traumatizing because of what we were forced to see or how we were forcibly and non consensually exploited, which used to correctly be called sexual abuse or sexual harassment. It was traumatizing for me again, to know just how easy it was for them to just throw our rights to privacy as women entirely out of the window.
- [20:39]
Ben Ferguson
I think people need to understand too, Riley. And if you'll explain it, because I've seen the locker rooms, the ncaa, especially when you're at event. So if you're playing in a, in a, a championship for, you know, your, Your conference, a lot of these venues, the locker rooms, when, when we say there's zero privacy, there is not a stall to go into to change. There is not a lot a set of. Of. Of lockers even like you might see at a country club for Example, or a sports club that you can go in another aisle for some privacy. Many times, the showers, there are not even shower curtains. It's communal showers. When I say there is no privacy in locker rooms, there is not. I'm assuming that's the scenario you guys were in.
- [21:24]
Riley Gaines
Yeah. And it's important to set that scene, especially a swimming locker room. Not a place of modesty. These suits that you're putting on, I mean, your racing suits, you know, they're paper thin, they're skin tight. It takes about at least, really, 20 minutes to poke and prod yourself into these suits. And that's. That's 20 minutes of which you're fully exposed. And, yeah, the locker room, it's a giant square. Like, there's no rooms, nowhere to hide. There's no nothing. It's a giant square. It's a very intimate space. And that's just growing up a swimmer. Of course, locker rooms in general aren't comfortable, but growing up a swimmer, you almost become comfortable being vulnerable in that environment. But let me tell you, that vulnerability was stripped from us when I had my back turned and I heard a man's voice in that changing space.
- [22:12]
Senator Ted Cruz
Now, let me ask you, what did the other women think? Because you really. You've demonstrated a courage and you paid a price. People have demonized you. You've been attacked and vilified. I'm willing to guess the other women weren't thrilled about it either, but they just weren't able or willing to speak out the same way you have.
- [22:32]
Riley Gaines
Let me tell you of my team at Kentucky, 40 girls, 38 of us feel the exact same way. That's not because there's 38 staunch conservatives swimming at the University of Kentucky. It's because there were 38 girls who understood. We worked our entire lives to get there, all to have the rug really ripped out from under us. And that's the general consensus of how we all felt. I won't claim to speak for every single person. No. But I do claim to speak for the overwhelming majority of us. Because, Ted, look, I can attest to the tears. I can attest to the tears not just from the moms in the stands who were watching as their daughters were being obliterated in the sport that they once loved. But the tears from the Girls who placed 9th or 17th and missed out on being named an All American by one place. And I can attest to the extreme discomfort in the locker room. And I can attest to the whispers, because that's what they were. They were whispers of Anger and frustration again from girls who, just like me, worked from the age of four to be able to compete on that athletic stage. So understand, people aren't staying quiet because they agree with this. They're staying quiet because they're terrified.
- [23:49]
Senator Ted Cruz
What are the consequences to speaking out?
- [23:52]
Riley Gaines
I can tell you what I faced. I was told I would lose all my friends. I was told I would never get a job, no employer would ever hire me because they would look me up and they would see that I'm a transphobe. My school told me, you know, Riley, you want to go to dental school, no dental school will ever accept you or even look at your application if you speak up about this. They said, you know, you signed a scholarship and remember when you sign that scholarship, you gave away your rights to speak in your own personal capacity. Remember who you represent. Remember whose name is across your chest and across your cap. Because it's not yours, it's ours. And Riley, understand we have already taken your stance for you. My university went as far as to tell us that if we did speak out, any harm whatsoever were to go towards Thomas's way, whether it was in the form of physical harm, emotional harm, self inflicted, for that matter. They said, then understand that could result in a potential death and that would make you a murderer. And you don't want that, do you? Don't want to be a murderer. No. So I suggest you be kind and I suggest you be inclusive because otherwise you'll have blood on your hands. But it's effective. I mean, that type of emotional blackmail that works when you're talking to 18, 19, 20 year old girls telling them they're going to be murderers. I don't blame others for kind of just. Just shutting up and putting up.
- [25:14]
Senator Ted Cruz
So. So let's talk, talk fairness for a second. One of the things you said at the outset is you said when Lia Thomas was competing as a man, that he was a mediocre, in fact, that he was in the bottom half of men competing in college swimming that he was in, I think you said, the top four to 500. So, so, so it wasn't close. It wasn't like he was near the top of men and then just ended up the same place in women. It was a pretty massive differential. Is that right?
- [25:40]
Riley Gaines
Yeah. This was not a lateral movement at all. He never even got remotely close to qualifying for NCAAs in the men's division to again a measly 12 months later winning a national championship. And I forgot to mention this. Will Thomas figure is actually from Texas he grew up in Westlake, Texas and swam here, went to school here before going on to UPenn. So there's a unique connection of course to the state here as well. But yeah, no, not a lateral movement at all, which is the case we've seen across the board. The story is the same every single time a mediocre man turns into a record smashing woman. Of course, in air quotes.
- [26:26]
Senator Ted Cruz
So, Riley, help people who are listening understand who haven't been competitive swimmers. So, you know, maybe you go swimming in your backyard, you play around with other kids, but you haven't competed at the elite level swimming. What are the advantages that, the physical advantages that a biological man has over a biological woman in competitive swimming?
- [26:46]
Riley Gaines
Well, of course a whole list of them. Let's start with things that I guess testosterone would impact testosterone levels. Things like your, of course, your muscular structure. Right. But also things like your lung size, your heart size, the size and length of your limbs. I mentioned his foot size. All things that are paramount in the sport of swimming, which let me just add, this is a sport we are working again all year in hopes to save a few one hundredths of a second off of. Off of your time. There's not a lot of margin of error here or you know, we're hoping to shave tenths of a second. So to compete against someone who has advantages that far outweigh anything you could ever do, there's no amount of training, there's no amount of sleep or diet or anything that you could do in let's say for example, 100 yard freestyle, to shave at that level a full second or two seconds off your time, you're fighting to shave hundreds of a second off your time.
- [27:56]
Ben Ferguson
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- [31:06]
Riley Gaines
Yeah, again, tenths of seconds. That's how much you're. Even in the 50 freestyle, for example, it's first place to 16th place, which is what qualifies of being an all American top 16 in the country. It's tenths of a second.
- [31:24]
Senator Ted Cruz
Now we're seeing this not just in swimming, we're seeing this in sport after sport after Sport Right now it's become an issue with San Jose State volleyball where there's a biological man who's playing on the women's volleyball team. And there have now been multiple women's teams that have refused to play. Give us your reaction to that, having competed in a different sport but at the same elite level.
- [31:48]
Riley Gaines
Well, first, this is the first time we have seen something like this, a movement in motion where teams are standing in unity together saying, we won't allow this to happen. Enough is enough. You're not going to continue to discriminate against us on the basis of our sex, which is of course everything that Title 9 was passed originally to prevent from happening. As you described San Jose State University, they allowed a man onto their team to take a scholarship. He's taken a roster spot he has taken when they travel, you know, that travel spot that rightfully belongs to a girl, to a woman. But in talking with and working with these presidents of these other Mountain West Conference schools, like for example, Southern Utah, Boise State, followed by University of Wyoming and most recently just last night, Utah State, these four schools have said, hey, we're not going to compete against this team. The universities of course, haven't specifically cited a reason. But I can tell you in talking to these teams, these girls are fearful of their safety. Yeah, they understand. Look, we, we know we're going to take a loss. That's what it means when you forfeit a match. But this is a worthy cause. We don't want to be on the receiving end. I've seen this boy give career ending concussions to girls. And so they cite safety concerns, these women, for not feeling comfortable to play. And I'll tell you, there's more schools in the pipeline coming up who will soon also cancel their games against San Jose State University.
- [33:27]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, and the risks of physical safety, particularly in sports that have more and more direct contact, whether you're dealing with volleyball and someone spiking the ball into your face, or a sport like basketball or we saw at the Olympics so called women's boxing with biological males competing. Give us your thoughts on the risks of really serious injury that can happen when you have biological males engaged in direct physical violence in a sport against women.
- [34:00]
Riley Gaines
Well, I'm not even going to give you my thoughts. I'll tell you exactly what is happening. I'm going to give you factual information here. Let's look for example at Peyton McNabb, a high school senior, she was at the time in North Carolina, a similar situation. Actually, it's the sport of volleyball. A Man on the opposing team, he jumps up, he spikes the ball, hits her in the face. She's knocked unconscious where she lays for many minutes before, you know, finally coming back around. Still to this day, that was two years ago. That was September of 2022. So. So over two years ago, still to this day, she's partially paralyzed on her right side. Her vision is impaired, her memory is impaired. She has to have special accommodations for testing at school because she can't retain information like she once could. She was supposed to play softball in college, but because of this brain injury, she will not go on to do that. She has part of her pituitary gland removed out of her brain because of how traumatic the head injury was. Let's look for, or look at, for example, what we saw at a high school in Massachusetts where a male was allowed to play field hockey with the girls against the girls. And this boy, he slaps a shot at the women. One of the women on the field, it hits her in the face, in the mouth, and it knocked all her teeth out. Even. She had to undergo reconstruction, facial reconstruction surgery to reconstruct her jaw. This male player, he's given career and concussions to girls. Like I said, most recently, we saw him. Him hit a woman in the face from University of Delaware to where she doesn't even have time to defend herself. Okay? Like, there was no reaction time for her that would have been able to prevent this hit from hitting her in the head. The list goes on. We saw recently even what the Olympics has done. The IOC allowed two men, two plural males, to compete in women's boxing, which naturally, these. Both of these men went on to win gold medals in their respective weight divisions. And one of the female boxers who fought against this boxer, one of the male boxers, said she had never been punched that forcefully that hard in her entire life. She said this was nothing, a punch that a woman could throw.
- [36:19]
Senator Ted Cruz
How is this remotely fair? In what universe is this even arguably fair?
- [36:27]
Riley Gaines
Well, it's absolutely not. And I'll tell you, the people who are lobbying for this, who are voting in favor of this, who are advocating for this, they don't even believe it. Even recently. Senator Cruz, when I testified actually before your committee, I had some of your colleagues from across the aisle come up to me before the hearing and say, hey, look, you know, I played football at Stanford. I totally get where you're coming from. I totally agree. And then gets on the other side of the table. And what does he do? He starts grilling me and sympathizes with Those on the other side. Yeah, not the women. So they don't believe this. They're again, just cowards. And they know that's why. One, you have been incredible on many issues outside of the gender ideology movement, but your opponent here in your state. I was so enthused to see this ad come out recently. It was so powerful, it was so effective. If the people listening haven't seen it, go watch it. I've reposted on my page, it's this perfect depiction that even if you just watch the last 10 seconds, you see a man in a jersey with all red on the back of it, and he tramples a young girl. And that is the message perfectly depicted. That is the message that we are receiving and that people are voting for. That's what you're getting if you vote for someone who advances these progressives and harmful policies.
- [38:04]
Senator Ted Cruz
Let me ask you, you've gone to a number of campuses and you've spoken out, and I admire your courage because you've had some really unpleasant receptions and threats of violence against you. Describe a little bit what you've experienced as a consequence of speaking out against this.
- [38:22]
Riley Gaines
Well, I was just actually explaining to Ben. I'm actually at University of Texas in Austin's campus today, and I'll tell you, there was some minor heckling, but for the most part was very well received because these students are desperate to hear the truth. To be honest with you, they've been denied it from their universities, from these institutional academic institutions. They've been denied the truth through censorship and other things. And so I had a great reception tonight. But you're right, I have been in scenarios where have not been overly well received. One, for example, is San Francisco State University, where, I mean, I was accosted, I was ambushed, I was attacked by these protesters, hundreds of them. They rush into the room, they turn off the lights. I mean, I'm being punched in the face by these men wearing dresses, which, again, they ultimately held me for ransom for about five hours, demanding that if I wanted to make it home to see my family safely again, I had to pay them money. All the while, the police are being held for ransom with me because, remember, this is San Francisco and the police don't know. I shouldn't say they don't know how to do their job. They just don't do their job in this city.
- [39:41]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, often they're prevented from doing it by the political leadership who doesn't let them protect the rights of innocence because ideology. Trump's actually defending people's rights and People's safety. And we see, whether it's in San Francisco or Minneapolis or New York or Los Angeles, we see that left wing Democrats prevent law enforcement from protecting innocence, in many cases from violence. That the ideology on the left is if the violence is carried out by someone whose politics they align with, then they're happy to look the other way and to effectively handcuff police officers from protecting the innocent from violence.
- [40:28]
Riley Gaines
And that's exactly what these officers said. You know, I asked them, can't you do something? To which they said, no, we can't. We're not allowed to do anything because we're not allowed to be seen as anything other than an ally to that community or else we'll lose our jobs. Again, the same community who's on the other side of the door where we were barricaded, who called these officers racist pigs for protecting a white girl like me. That's who they again, were almost forcibly had to side with in this scenario.
- [40:59]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, Riley, thank you for speaking out. Thank you for speaking out not just for yourself, but you're speaking out for women, you're speaking out for young girls. You're speaking out for the next generation of athletes. You know, Title IX transformed athletics and created opportunity for millions of schoolgirls to compete and develop discipline and teamwork and get all of the benefits of athletic competition. And I gotta say, the current insanity of pretending there is no such thing as girls and boys, there is no such thing as women and men, it really threatens the ability of both women and girls to compete in athletics. And I think your courage. There are a lot of people who are grateful to you, even if they don't say so. I'm telling you, there are millions of Texans and millions of people across, across the country who are grateful to you, Riley.
- [41:48]
Riley Gaines
Well, I appreciate both you, Senator Cruz, and of course Ben, for everything that you guys have done. I mean, I think, Senator Cruz, in terms of the gender ideology movement, there are really few who have done it as such a great job as you as highlighting the insanity, spreading awareness, I think of the activist Judge Sarah Netburn, who. I mean, your line of questioning was just brilliant. It was perfect. It was just enough. I believe the vote was 12 to 11. But again, that's largely in part of, well, because of everything that you and your colleagues have done. And so just very, very grateful for you guys and doing the necessary work, even when it's not the popular thing. So thank you.
- [42:41]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, there's a power to common sense and just speaking the truth at a time when it seems so many others are terrified to do so. That has an enormous power and enormous force.
- [42:53]
Riley Gaines
Well, thank you, thank you, thank you. I'm waiting for the day when Kentucky.
- [42:59]
Senator Ted Cruz
And Texas, well, that will come soon enough and, and, and I will be happily rooting for Texas, but we'll see what happens.
- [43:07]
Ben Ferguson
Riley, thanks again for coming on. People can follow you on social media, obviously, and see where you're speaking around the country. If you've never seen Riley speak, put it on your list. Tell your kids, your grandkids at colleges to make sure they see her if she is coming to their campus. Don't forget, we do the show Monday, Wednesday and Friday. So make sure you hit that subscriber auto download button. And, and make sure you grab my podcast as well, the Ben Ferguson Podcast for those between days. I will keep you updated on everything going on as well in the latest breaking news and the center. And I will see you back here for the week in review on Saturday morning.