Aria Paul
Attendees at the Riley Gaines talk, hosted by Colorado State University's student chapter of Turning Point USA and The Riley Gaines Center at the Leadership Institute, hold up posters and signs for a photo April 3. "Defend your daughters; defend your kids," Gaines said.
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Hate has no place in sports, no matter how divisive they may seem.
As a university that literally has inclusion, respect and social justice listed in its Principles of Community, Colorado State University has failed its student population by allowing Riley Gaines to speak with hate and disrespect to those who would listen.
Gaines is a former University of Kentucky swimmer who was relatively successful during her time as an athlete there. In 2022, she was the Southeastern Conference Women’s Swimming and Diving Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Gaines also consistently competed in the NCAA championships, most notably in the 200-yard freestyle, in which she tied for fifth against Lia Thomas, a transgender athlete.
Since tying for fifth in the NCAAs, Gaines has made a postgraduate career speaking out against transgender athletes in sports and “reclaiming feminism.” Gaines has now formed a section of the organization The Leadership Institute in her name — The Riley Gaines Center.
“By allowing Gaines to speak to students at CSU, our university is forgetting all about the Principles of Community that are designed to make students feel supported.”
This organization enables Gaines to travel to many different universities and speak her so-called “truth” about how she was robbed of her NCAA success because the NCAA allowed Thomas to compete in the women’s division.
The decision to allow trans athletes to compete in their chosen gender category has stirred a lot of controversy within the collegiate sports community. Many people believe allowing trans athletes to compete in sports creates an unequal disadvantage for cisgender athletes.
“This isn’t just a women’s issue,” Gaines says on her website. “It’s a freedom issue. It affects men and women and girls and boys because men don’t want to see women robbed of their opportunities or put in danger. And every person has the right to speak the truth.”
For some — Gaines in particular — this decision is destroying women’s sports. However, truth be told, it’s a controversial topic that doesn’t have an ideal solution. Despite this, there is an opportunity for standards to be set and support for the queer community to be publicly put into place.
Clearly, at CSU, those standards weren’t a priority. On April 3, Gaines arrived on campus, and with the help of CSU’s chapter of Turning Point USA and The Leadership Institute, she hosted an event to “reclaim feminism,” according to the posters plastered around campus. This event was just one of many in her cross-country tour speaking at colleges and universities.
By allowing Gaines to speak to students at CSU, the university is forgetting all about the Principles of Community that are designed to make students feel supported. Gaines actively spoke out against the trans community, and other speakers at the event could be heard saying that the devil was coming out through trans people.
“This is the devil’s work,” Colorado Rep. Richard Holtorf said after Gaines’ speech. “This is Satan trying to make all of us confused. … (This is) the woke, transgender — and I call it a ‘transgender cult.’ This is a cult now; this is a cultlike following in this country that is being peddled and sold just like all of the other cults.”
This kind of event being held on CSU’s campus is extremely disappointing on an administrative level. Allowing this kind of speech is shocking and clearly doesn’t follow the Principles of Community.
Seeing the lack of support from CSU is incredibly disappointing. Yes, free speech should be allowed on our campus, and as a journalist, I understand the importance of the First Amendment. However, when that First Amendment right is being abused to spread hatred of those in the queer community, it’s a cause for concern.
The event itself wasn’t heavily publicized; the majority of the audience supported Gaines and her ideas. At the end of the event, when Gaines prompted a question-and-answer session, there was no one in the crowd who had a question or statement speaking out against the things Gaines said during the event.
What was even more shocking was the CSU athletes who showed up in support of Gaines. Members of the CSU swim and dive team, volleyball team and tennis teams were seen in attendance and even publicly posted their support for Gaines on Instagram.
All athletes are entitled to their own opinions, but supporting someone who speaks so strongly against the queer and trans community so publicly is astonishing. Allowing Gaines to continue to speak against those in this community creates an unsafe environment for trans athletes to play the sports they love.
Reach Emma Askren at letters@collegian.com or on Twitter @emma_askren.