Ex-NCAA Swimmer Has Demand After Alleged Lia Thomas Incident
ATLANTA, GA - MARCH 18: University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas and Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines react after finishing tied for 5th in the 200 Freestyle finals at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships on March 18th, 2022 at the McAuley Aquatic Center in Atlanta Georgia. (Photo by Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Former Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines is demanding a change be made following an incident with former Penn swimmer Lia Thomas.
Gaines demanded that the NCAA establish separate locker rooms for transgender athletes. Her suggestion comes after she claims cisgender athletes weren't told beforehand they'd be sharing a locker room with Thomas, who is transgender.
“We were not forewarned beforehand that we would be sharing a locker room with Lia. We did not give our consent, they did not ask for our consent, but in that locker room we turned around and there’s a 6-foot-4 biological man dropping his pants and watching us undress, and we were exposed to male genitalia,” Gaines told Fox News’ “America Reports."
Here's more of what she said, via the New York Post:
“That to me was worse than the competition piece,” Gaines told the outlet. “Not even probably a year, two years ago, this would have been considered some form of sexual assault, voyeurism. But now not even are they just allowing it to happen, it’s almost as if these large organizations are encouraging it to happen.”
Gaines is a 12-time All-American and five-time SEC champ at the University of Kentucky.
After finishing behind Thomas at the NCAA championships, she became vocal in her opposition to transgender athletes competing with cisgender ones.
