Last week, outspoken former college swimmer Riley Gaines shared an excerpt from a letter sent to Harvard University’s women’s swimming team that calls on team members to be supportive of transgender athletes, The UK Daily Mail reported.
In a tweet last Tuesday, Gaines posted an excerpt from the letter which she said was shared with her by a member of Harvard’s swim team.
The excerpt dealt with the “conversations and controversy” surrounding transgender swimmer “Lia” Thomas, and whether it is “fair” or “ethical” for him to compete against women.
The unknown writer of the letter argues that it is important to transgender athletes that the teams support them, implying that one transgender athlete “may not be here today” if not for that support.
The writer insists that Harvard won’t tell its athletes what they should believe, but adds that spending their energy “getting annoyed or frustrated” will not benefit the team. The excerpt encourages team members to let the NCAA decide and urges them not to speak to the press, but instead, direct reporters to the university’s Sports Media Office for comment.
In her “translation” of the excerpt, Gaines claims the letter writer is using emotional blackmail to force women swimmers to accept “mistreatment” by implying that refusing to support a transgender athlete would make them “complicit in a potential death.”
She scoffs at the writer’s claim that the university won’t tell athletes what they should believe while also telling them that “it is a bad choice to fight this.” She suggests that the letter writer is telling athletes to let the NCAA “decide if you are worthy of fair competition” while urging them not to speak out.
Gaines appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee last Wednesday to testify at the “Protecting Pride: Defending the Civil Rights of LGBTQ+ Americans” hearing.
During her testimony, Gaines blasted the NCAA for letting “Lia” Thomas hold the one trophy during a photo op while telling her that she “had to go home empty-handed.” She claimed that when she challenged the NCAA, she said she was told that “it was crucial” that Thomas was the one holding trophy for the optics.
She told the committee that for the NCAA, all that mattered “was the feelings of a biological male.”
