Gaines for Girls with Riley Gaines - Fired For Calling For Fairness

00:00:00.000 hey everybody welcome back to the gains for girls podcast this week is the 52nd anniversary of

00:00:13.620 title nine uh yes the federal civil rights law that at one point uh prevented sex-based

00:00:19.720 discrimination on any educational program that received federal funding enacted in 1972

00:00:24.820 by president richard nixon but now on its 52nd anniversary we have a president in the white

00:00:32.480 house who has abolished title nine and its original intent with the stroke of a pen um really crazy

00:00:39.900 stuff but couldn't be more grateful for the opportunities uh that title nine allowed for me

00:00:45.420 to have uh of course my entire career my entire entire collegiate career until that last meet

00:00:52.760 my last meet ever where we were forced to compete against leah thomas again the man uh the six foot 1.00

00:00:59.380 four man who is very mediocre at best when competing against the other men but nonetheless title nine it

00:01:06.100 taught me how to be a leader it taught me how to set goals and work to achieve those goals uh it gave me

00:01:12.040 friendships that will serve me for a lifetime uh so really great things they're doing everything we can

00:01:16.860 to combat this administrative rewrite by joe biden and the department of education uh which

00:01:22.740 is why i'm super excited for today's guest uh this is a guest who is uh like some of the other

00:01:28.600 guests we've had on before uh in the way that he's a coach he is someone who is extremely qualified he is

00:01:35.600 in a high school track and field coach in the state of oregon actually correction he is a former high

00:01:42.920 school track and field coach from oregon and so you might be wondering okay well why add the word

00:01:48.980 former in there uh well that's because he has been terminated from his coaching position why you

00:01:55.280 might ask why was he fired because he dared to suggest that women deserve fairness that we deserve

00:02:04.000 safety that we deserve equal opportunity uh couldn't be more excited for this conversation

00:02:08.800 make sure you check us out before you listen at outkick.com uh like and subscribe anywhere where you get

00:02:14.460 your podcast uh but check out the interview here with john parks well john thank you so much for

00:02:20.220 coming on the gains for girls podcast uh but really before we get into anything and talk about what you

00:02:26.240 have been on the front lines of i want you to be able to share a little bit about who you are and what

00:02:32.200 you do i'm a track coach and also for many years a high school teacher i work in the building as a

00:02:40.060 special ed assistant in the autism program um and i've but i've coached at the olympic level uh

00:02:46.340 professional track level for over a decade um and coach elite high school athletes privately and i've also

00:02:52.800 been in the last couple years the head coach at lake oswego high school and also coach collegiately so i have

00:02:58.720 a wide array of levels that i've coached at so i understand the sport kind of deeper than most people that would be

00:03:05.600 typical high school coach because i have had olympic medalist and had many people make you know all

00:03:10.420 american at the collegiate level and compete i've had someone compete or qualify for the olympic trials

00:03:15.020 and every olympic trials going back for decades so it's so i understand it from that level that brings

00:03:20.380 me the perspective that i bring into the table on this particular issue so you mean you're qualified

00:03:26.100 i think i'm qualified to at least try to bring some some rational sense to the to the argument or the

00:03:32.880 discussion no i i could not agree more uh you are more than qualified uh the sad thing is it doesn't

00:03:39.380 even take those qualifications to see the position that you're coming from uh and that position is

00:03:46.040 i'll read this i read this headline actually to kind of preface what you've been facing what we're

00:03:52.840 talking about i think it was from the new york post uh and the headline read oregon high school track

00:03:59.240 field coach was fired for proposing open division for athletes who identify as trans and so i i mean

00:04:07.260 break this headline down for us uh please share you know what you've experienced these past few weeks

00:04:14.060 yeah you know going into the state meet i asked my athletic director could i write a letter

00:04:19.600 uh to the you know the osaar state association he said yes um and we talked about it

00:04:27.500 very briefly your state meet of course there was a male who identified as a woman competing in the

00:04:34.440 women's category correct and raised my athlete in the four had two athletes in the 400 one would play

00:04:40.020 sick first and one would play sixth um and it caused great distress to them in the lead up to it

00:04:46.080 their parents were very you know uh concerned and and had issues and were but they're they're afraid

00:04:53.100 to speak out in any way they they definitely i can speak enough to say they very much want to support

00:04:58.740 all students and and transgender students get support in every way but they just felt like it was putting

00:05:04.600 them under an unfair stress to have to race uh in this kind of conditions um where this uh trans 0.85

00:05:11.400 athlete uh you know has just recently transitioned was a bodybuilder before and was someone who's going

00:05:18.520 to keep improving and so i fully prepared my uh athlete for that and my josie donaldson to to run 0.66

00:05:25.360 fast at the meet and be prepared she's one of the best she's number five in the nation uh in the 400 1.00

00:05:31.620 meters she made the u.s under 20 team for the world championships she's broke the old oregon state record

00:05:37.500 by over a second so that empowered me to write the state and say look we can't change this for this year

00:05:42.700 i've never in there said that but in my dismissal they were trying to use the words i was trying to

00:05:47.440 stop them from competing i'm like i never did that i all i was advocating for was as you just said

00:05:52.340 and the post headline said an open division that would allow competition so that the fans could

00:05:58.340 cheer the transgender athletes uh separately and recognize and reward their efforts but not take 1.00

00:06:05.980 away from the female athletes that were natural born females that are in a whole different competition 0.95

00:06:13.060 level something that we the reason we in start started uh female sports in the first place um 1.00

00:06:19.340 and so it's it's frustrating to um to to see the reaction to that letter which ironically riley this is

00:06:27.980 the most important thing after the letter was sent i sent it on a sunday night late on tuesday i see my

00:06:33.400 athletic director in the hallway just passing uh and he says uh the lady at the state kelly foster she

00:06:39.300 received your letter and she agrees with you but she cannot respond and as you might can imagine i

00:06:43.980 said yeah i understand why she couldn't write back but she uh it's important that she said that and he

00:06:49.480 says and i agree with it and then the next day i went to see my principal just kind of bring her up

00:06:54.100 to me and saying hey i wrote a letter chris may have told you our ad chris coleman and i said um

00:06:58.980 did you uh she's there somewhere and i i agree as well but you know we have to be careful

00:07:03.860 because we have transgender students i said of course this is not in any way trying to put

00:07:09.300 them from having that the opportunity to practice and compete but there does need to be a distinction

00:07:14.960 when we're talking about the highly competitive nature of high school sports these days it's not

00:07:19.400 just participatory as some pundits want to say it is very serious for these kids they take it very

00:07:25.240 seriously um and my girl josie was just off that in the race at the state meet was only three tenths 1.00

00:07:31.720 of a second off making the olympic trial standard and so had she done so she'd have been able to go on

00:07:38.060 and it's important to note that the transgender athlete would not have been able to because of

00:07:42.280 the rules that the you know the us atf and the and the world athletics have in place that would

00:07:48.040 not allow this and so there is a distinction there on the same track right now the olympic trials are

00:07:53.740 going on and she could have been in that race that was right last night in the five which may 0.67

00:07:57.060 have made the final it's not quite that level yet but she could have run in the first round 0.72

00:07:59.920 and and that's the distinction that we're seeing is they're they're not taking that into

00:08:06.420 consideration because they're sticking their heads in the sand of course yeah what you described

00:08:12.600 uh in terms of the private support is what i have seen time and time and time again at every level

00:08:21.560 whether it's i mean parents whether it's people within the ncaa i mean you name it uh i have i've

00:08:29.080 certainly seen the same response um and so you you write this letter but it got national attention

00:08:37.480 how your school essentially ousted you and so how did it become public knowledge that these letters

00:08:44.320 were sent i don't know that they've not told me how they the athletic director at portland school

00:08:51.440 got hold of my letter because the question is and there was no protesting of the letter as

00:08:57.240 as against board policy and hate speech and harassment as i was told in the meeting that

00:09:02.560 it qualified as simply for advocating for an open division because that's all i did that was

00:09:06.880 you know that you can say there's any kind of discussion about it i was just explaining like

00:09:11.440 the unfairness of it uh and why in trying to explain it and they said well it's because i identified as a

00:09:16.660 employee of l o but i said but i also identified as someone who coached at the olympic level

00:09:20.060 in the college level and so i made clear it wasn't the school's position which is the the position

00:09:25.500 about this that's so frustrating but how it got public was was he got it somehow and i know since

00:09:31.040 this has happened dozens of coaches have told me that they and many of their parents and others have

00:09:37.240 written letters before the meet as well so i don't know why i was singled out uh other than what

00:09:42.300 happened you know on the metal stand and the um and and off the track that's been already debunked

00:09:50.020 by my own investigation that said the appropriate the comment i made to the on the metal stand to

00:09:55.860 uh the athlete of this transgender was was appropriate it was not neither positive or 0.99

00:10:01.660 negative it was just a comment like you know you make comments to people and i was trying to be

00:10:05.400 supportive because i feel this kid's in a tough position and wanted to try to be a bit empathetic but

00:10:12.100 also you know state that you know this is this is a competition that uh we're all having conflict

00:10:18.260 about and recognize that this is tough for them and so the comment was nothing comment but uh it

00:10:23.960 was taken out of context uh again uh how some people wanted to hear it from what they must have

00:10:30.280 said they didn't ask the investigation didn't ask um the you know i mean the newspaper reporter for

00:10:36.700 the oregonian for example reported it and i said and i profuted back i said you didn't give me a chance

00:10:41.140 to respond and that isn't what was said ask josie donaldson ask the girl that was in third place 0.99

00:10:46.900 um but you know those kind of things it's like were nothing anyway because like i said it was

00:10:51.840 determined by my own investigation to be a nothing uh not an inappropriate comment and so

00:10:58.440 that's what i think what started it uh this one pushback i mean there were such ridiculous things as

00:11:05.720 i was the one who got the crowd to boo in the same comment and that i had been all year uh advocating

00:11:11.360 against this kid i didn't do anything i didn't say i mean i didn't even you know up until i was trying

00:11:15.940 to keep my myself from like getting saying things that would be you know inappropriate because that's

00:11:21.380 what we're all been taught to do but as i've gone through this process since then i'm like why can't

00:11:26.440 we advocate for our girls why we must advocate for our female athletes who's going to do it nobody else 0.51

00:11:32.180 is doing it the politicians aren't doing it the the political the leadership and the sport isn't doing

00:11:38.140 it um and they're ignoring that aspect and trying to basically avoid lawsuits over trying to put

00:11:44.380 limitations on competition when they could find ways that other states have done or they could

00:11:49.400 find ways that you know like what the world aquatics told leah thomas you can compete in the open

00:11:54.020 division but you don't get to run it to swim against riley gains and other swimmers because it's got you

00:11:59.780 have an advantage and i you know and the the water decision is insightful and i don't necessarily agree

00:12:04.720 with the whole complexity of you know saying that you have to have started treatment by age 12

00:12:08.880 that seems a bit early um i'm not necessarily in favor of that but what that message sends

00:12:13.520 is clearly that the um athletes have an advantage because once you start going through puberty and

00:12:19.700 adolescence as a boy you start getting things that you can't ever give back that you don't ever you're

00:12:24.320 going to maintain even if you start home long trip you may have a reduction but you're still going

00:12:28.140 to have it and that's what that decision is saying and so that's why it's all more important

00:12:32.040 we advocate for female um athletes to have that protection and on the track and the pool

00:12:37.600 and in other athletic endeavors because it is unfair on so many levels and so i don't know how they

00:12:43.760 got the letter i don't know why they wanted to make this why they wanted to take a stand on it but

00:12:48.820 i'm taking my stand because i know i stand for what's right and 99.9 percent of anybody disagree

00:12:54.420 with me in person i've been at the olympic trials the last three days i'm headed back down tonight

00:12:58.760 um and it's been heartwarming to have officials of all major shoe companies of uh of all the

00:13:05.560 former olympic gold medalist in different events to have at current athletes to have coaches at the

00:13:11.400 professional level that are my friends and colleagues and coaching uh there in the last

00:13:14.660 couple years with one of my high school girls who's at that level and qualified for the olympic

00:13:18.020 trial so i know she's unable to compete um to have all the i just have random people about an

00:13:24.220 average about one every five to ten minutes come up to me uh and you know and say hey we're

00:13:28.700 behind you 100 percent is empowering and it shows me that you know and it's it's why uh my attorneys

00:13:35.960 have said you know we need to get you some support and so they allowed me to start a uh that were

00:13:41.760 they started my parents started um a uh go fund me because i'm going to lose my health insurance and

00:13:47.000 so all these kind of things here uh are in empowering to feel like people care that they want

00:13:51.800 to do that for me and so it's it's one of those things that's been frustrating but at the same time

00:13:56.340 it makes me feel good that i'm trying to do something good for for the entirety of female

00:14:00.760 sports and this argument that needs to be discussed that i'm properly and not just dismissing me

00:14:06.280 quickly because you're being hastily uh accepting at face values and charges that we're all be

00:14:11.400 are all being debunked my appeal isn't official until wednesday when i have to submit the official

00:14:16.960 appeal but um but it's you know it's it's something i'm happy to turn in because i can

00:14:23.540 you know um exonerate myself uh for all this sorry i'm a long-winded there no no please you're

00:14:31.520 totally fine uh it's nice to hear you elaborate um i couldn't agree more when you say look the people

00:14:38.480 coming up to you and support that's why this doesn't make sense to me uh because in day-to-day

00:14:45.420 life your everyday common sense american regardless of how they politically align they agree with

00:14:53.440 yes you and with i and they understand that you really have taken a stance on this issue that is

00:14:58.540 a stand that is of course it's rooted in truth but the way you have been able to present yourself

00:15:06.020 and every interview that i've seen uh has really been done with grace um and it has shown empathy

00:15:12.140 as for people who identify as trans but also empathy for women and girls um which is commonly

00:15:18.600 left out of this equation did you ever get a response from from the letters that you sent to

00:15:24.140 your to your state senator no nothing yet and in the irony of it riley is that i had a very positive

00:15:30.000 first meeting with him met with him once in person five years ago uh to advocate as i've been a long

00:15:35.840 time social studies teacher and mostly in economics and government and i advocated for requiring the

00:15:42.780 financial literacy and civics to be taught as graduation requirements in oregon because they weren't

00:15:47.460 and he eventually kind of got through this the state government got signed and put into law

00:15:52.500 and being implemented uh in the last couple years and so i took pride in having had that so when i

00:15:57.520 reached out to him i identified myself saying remember i visited with you and you get i get asked

00:16:02.360 for a 10 minute meeting and i got 45 minutes and he was blown away but the presentation i gave me

00:16:07.340 say how long did you just put this together i said i'm about 40 minutes and it's just like i'm

00:16:11.920 passionate about what i do and those things and i'm passionate in this area

00:16:14.460 and i'm more passionate on this area because of my sister and my very strong mother that have

00:16:21.720 inspired me going back to and getting in uh involved in my career and you know why a state

00:16:28.420 senator is going to going to deny his female constituents and even males that that want to 1.00

00:16:35.280 speak up as you know for this right is beyond me because it's not political it's not it's not a right

00:16:41.360 thing it's not a left thing it's a common sense and it's it's obviously science it's just just

00:16:46.280 something we all can identify quite quite easily of course it's a a humanitarian issue more than i

00:16:52.840 would say it's it's a political one um but the state championships we've alluded to it in oregon

00:16:59.180 uh watching a boy cross the finish line first taking a state title away from a deserving girl

00:17:07.240 i mean what was this i mean the raw emotion the feelings of it as a coach watching this i i can

00:17:15.860 of course i've seen this firsthand and i know how i felt i felt betrayed i felt belittled i felt as if

00:17:21.860 we were being mocked um but but what were what were your emotions watching this well i didn't actually

00:17:28.900 see the 200 i haven't watched the video because i didn't have a girl in it since my elite girl mia

00:17:33.940 who's the state record holder uh but whose records could be under threat because this individual has

00:17:38.480 two more years and as part of my inspiration is like uh to not just as you just used the word mock

00:17:46.260 uh i i just don't think it's right to think you can break records um when you have this advantage it's

00:17:52.680 you know it'd be just like you having to swim against somebody or an athlete running against

00:17:56.980 someone who just for last two years took steroids and got their testosterone levels really high

00:18:01.540 and then they right before they get tested they they get off it but they don't lose the um the

00:18:07.360 benefits of all those the training and whatnot with the with the drugs so it's the same kind of thing

00:18:12.460 you have this advantage and to put to deny that is ridiculous so watching it uh hearing it i was in

00:18:18.820 the warm up area because we had a boy trying to win the 200 he'd won the 100 and we were in contention

00:18:23.020 for the team so i was in the warm up area which is outside the stadium in hayward you can't see

00:18:26.600 anything uh and so i didn't know what happened um i heard a little bit of booing uh and that someone

00:18:31.580 said out that they just ran the 200 i said oh uh yeah that's not surprising so then i'm walking back

00:18:37.080 in the stadium and they're doing the medal ceremony for it and you have to go up these stairs and then

00:18:42.660 you walk along the concourse and i hear it as i was actually coming out of the restroom and and i was

00:18:48.520 like wow that's loud and and i realized what they were saying when i walked out the portal to see what it

00:18:53.240 was and and it was um you know it was frustrating that that even had to happen right we shouldn't

00:19:00.720 have had uh anybody have to boo but i think i think that most of the people that booed were booing

00:19:06.820 because they were upset with the policy makers to put this situation in place because it was unfair

00:19:11.680 to uh the girl in second place astra jones to not get recognized and stand atop the podium and have 1.00

00:19:17.400 their shining moment that they're never going to get back um just because some policy makers think

00:19:22.700 that uh they don't get that having this uh transgender athlete competing is is goes beyond

00:19:30.080 the norm of of giving them their rights this individual uh in the transgender should have every

00:19:36.400 right in the classroom in society and life and every other way but as the constitution protects that

00:19:42.600 but on the athletic fields they should not and it's it's and it's impossible for me to get my head

00:19:50.340 around that they that they're okay with that and obviously the comment that i received from the os

00:19:55.960 double ace representative that oversees track uh made clear that they aren't but they they feel

00:20:01.440 like their hands are tied so it's like if i don't speak up loudly enough who the hell's going to do

00:20:05.760 something they're trying to silence me they're trying to make make you know make this issue go

00:20:10.360 away they hope it's just going to go away well that's i mean and effectively firing you

00:20:16.260 what what they're doing to you is making an example saying hey this is what happens if you do speak up

00:20:23.100 and you don't want to lose your job do you you know that's not what you want so i suggest you be

00:20:27.920 kind and i suggest you be inclusive that's that's what they're doing to you

00:20:32.360 and yeah you mentioned the the os uh double a uh which i is i think it's the oregon school

00:20:40.760 activities association correct but they have a policy in place i was reading up on this before

00:20:47.080 just trying to to fully understand i mean i could have told you what it said and and i was correct

00:20:52.960 in thinking that the policy basically says actually i have it right here it says uh they allow students

00:20:58.620 to participate in the athletic or activity program of their consistently asserted gender identity while

00:21:03.800 providing a fair of a fair and safe environment for all students which the sentence itself is

00:21:12.560 contradictory those two things cannot be mutually exclusive i mean that they can't coexist in the way

00:21:19.940 that the policy is saying that they can uh you've mentioned the clip or i guess the booing on the

00:21:26.680 podium that that clip went viral but i thought the most powerful part of the video that i saw was not

00:21:33.640 only how um the rightful state champion uh was cheered and applauded and how the boy when he stood atop

00:21:41.780 the podium was was booed um i thought the most powerful part of this video was the response from

00:21:49.120 the girls uh and their body language on the podium it was really i'll use the word incredible of course

00:21:55.740 it's incredibly unfortunate it should have never happened but it was incredible to see even without

00:22:00.620 saying words uh you could feel and see the solemnness you could see the just dismay that these girls were

00:22:12.640 feeling and now we've seen boys uh win a girls high school track and field state title in five states

00:22:20.240 five out of 50 i mean that's that's 10 of states and it's only exponentially increasing and so as a

00:22:28.960 coach do you ever see this happening the other way around where girls are entering into and winning

00:22:36.980 boys races um no and you know uh it's it's because it won't happen because the physical

00:22:45.540 things that are scientific uh are there exceptional women that could beat boys yes i coached the fastest

00:22:51.520 female history in history in the 100 meters and uh one of the fastest in 200 meters um and in me up

00:22:58.820 right pitterson and mia raised some boys last year to try to get some competition but it wasn't meant

00:23:04.580 it was only a we're going to help each other out and it wasn't like they scored separate and it was

00:23:09.800 just a you know thing and people say well that's a construct you know or not it's not when you're

00:23:14.280 that good and some guys and it was two of my guys ran against her they you know she won the race 1.00

00:23:20.240 but it wasn't the best you know uh boys in the state she couldn't win the state title

00:23:25.020 and that and she is the literally the national high school record holder for competition when 0.83

00:23:30.360 it's only high school athletes but no so that wouldn't happen and you know on the metal stand

00:23:37.100 you know that that thing is so uh you know to me it's emotional to all of us because we know that

00:23:45.060 that's why you compete that's why you train hard is to get up on that metal stand and to deny it to

00:23:49.720 kids is something that i just can't can't abide by that you're going to take it away because you

00:23:55.900 you know you're going to allow this as you going back to your statement the osaa statement you know

00:24:00.200 it's not like we're in the band or orchestra which they also oversee uh you know this this is where

00:24:06.420 there is a physical advantage and we just have to keep that in mind through all this of course um

00:24:12.560 this this ruling you know is it is it coming more so from school boards is it coming from

00:24:19.540 the state level we've seen the attacks at the federal level uh by the bide administration

00:24:24.140 pertaining to to title nine and so i guess my question for you is who is really at fault here

00:24:31.320 i think i personally i mean i think there's a lot of fingers to point right you could point fingers at

00:24:36.180 at people who stay silent like like parents or or what have you uh i i think that's a bit unfair

00:24:43.820 um given the fact that people are in different positions and there are risks and there are threats

00:24:50.000 but but who's at fault here well i think the the state politicians are most at fault when i write the

00:24:57.080 the head of the senate who happens to be my we're in the district where i live rob wagner and he does

00:25:02.700 nothing to respond to me on obviously a very important issue that obviously many oregonians

00:25:07.840 care about uh far more than even participate in sports but they care about it for the their friends

00:25:13.300 their neighbors their relatives and it to me it's one of those things like all i asked him in my letter

00:25:19.660 was is it correct that the os double a is is miss i mean that the in misinterpreting the state law

00:25:26.220 because it does i've read the law and one of my several of my parents are lawyers but i have a pro bono

00:25:31.480 lawyer that's vastly overworked trying to defend me for the school district my union lawyers backed

00:25:37.480 out saying well your contract is up and you got fired so we can't represent you anymore and i'm

00:25:42.480 like why did i pay union dues that's a whole nother issue um but the um but so they but this other

00:25:50.280 parent who's also an attorney uh is one and and their daughter was impacted by this directly and

00:25:56.220 during the season um and at the state meet was sharing this law with me and you know and you can

00:26:04.480 see how it says they do have the right to draw some distinctions to keep as you use the word that they

00:26:09.340 use in their fair uh competition and to keep it safe well it certainly isn't safe when they have to

00:26:14.640 have a police escort uh for the whole weekend for this athlete and if they don't change the rule i can

00:26:21.280 only imagine it getting worse in the future i hate to think that's not going to happen i'm not gonna

00:26:25.700 make some changes to to bet so that we don't have this i mean in my letter i said we need a law that

00:26:31.500 says we cheer for all in which we open up this open division and we encourage participation in the

00:26:38.040 transgender community which will probably bring more out that right now are quite frankly afraid to

00:26:42.120 come out because they don't want to face this and they do realize it's unfair and i have to in my

00:26:47.080 family to transgender athlete or not athletes but to transgender uh individuals in my family who feel

00:26:52.520 this way and it and it's one of the things that i think is uh we have to adamantly uh ask our

00:26:59.620 politicians why aren't you doing something the oswa officials should they should be advocating back to

00:27:05.480 the politicians help us out especially if they if what is true that from athletic director which i have

00:27:10.560 no reason to believe it not that we don't want to keep doing this nobody wants to go through this again

00:27:14.560 and you're right they're trying to silence me that's what i'm being made the example don't get

00:27:18.640 out of line and that's why leading up to it they said not to say anything and then i didn't say 0.54

00:27:23.120 anything during the entire meet um about it publicly i you know it was just uh it was ridiculous and it

00:27:30.060 was being talked about by so many people in the stadium as you ask the parents and stuff since my

00:27:34.960 situation's coming out like my goodness we could fire every coach in the stadium if you want to get

00:27:39.120 right down to it i'm like potentially so and i said but i'm being made the example of

00:27:44.180 because we can't have that and you know listening to you it actually reminds me of another coach

00:27:52.100 in your state nonetheless uh who's received similar treatment and this is coach dave brown

00:27:59.060 and his wonderful wife judy uh i've been able to talk with them they've come on the podcast before

00:28:03.740 um he's one who went to to a school board meeting and said hey what we're experiencing in our sports

00:28:11.360 are wrong it's unfair and he quit he quit coaching after i mean i forget the number but i mean uh

00:28:18.540 decades of coaching similar to you athletes who loved him parents who loved him um but he just

00:28:24.940 couldn't do it anymore and so it reminds me of that and again in your state nonetheless uh but what are

00:28:32.600 your plans next i mean what's what in the future do you continue to plan to continue to push back on

00:28:39.820 this do you want to get back into coaching what's next for you well the the first thing is my parents

00:28:45.740 and my attorneys hope that we can get the the school board and the principal to recognize a lot of the

00:28:54.220 stuff that was accused by this other district's uh athletic director was patently false their

00:29:00.060 interpretation of the letter was improper it was ignoring the right for me to to advocate my first

00:29:06.240 amendment right to advocate for freedom of speech one attorney friend of mine um said that my case

00:29:11.900 looks like it would get protected by the kennedy versus bremerton case in the prayer case um which

00:29:18.160 still first amendment because they're in large part of the uh of the uh evidence against me was coming

00:29:25.140 from these letters and they're saying it was hate speech and i'm like i was you can't have political

00:29:30.120 speech on one side and not have it on the other and so you are ignoring these aspects of the legal

00:29:36.120 uh situation here and so i'd like that some say could you go back i said i'd go back because these

00:29:42.220 girls and um and even the guys on the team have supported me a hundred percent and their parents

00:29:49.180 hundred percent and so and that's why they started to go fund me for to help me out because i'm losing

00:29:54.820 my health insurance and they want to see me back i've already had people at other schools say hey

00:30:00.300 we'd love to have you over here not unfortunately the athletic officials but the parents reach out to

00:30:04.320 me um and a couple schools have openings and they're like you're welcome and you know ones in

00:30:09.320 the community in which i live i'm not sure what'll ever happen with that but i also wasn't coaching

00:30:14.020 a high school before this started i've been a private coach i've got some private coaching to do

00:30:18.220 this afternoon uh before i go back to eugene some are college kids home for summer and some are my

00:30:24.720 elite kids going on to the world under 20 championships so i can i'll keep coaching but

00:30:30.240 i'll keep advocating for this issue today my sister uh passed in 2020 she was a federal judge

00:30:35.980 and she was an athlete who was a product of title nine and got a college scholarship to run

00:30:40.940 wouldn't have had that opportunity i inspired her and now she inspires me and her her memory to kind

00:30:47.280 push for this sort of thing and i'm be damned if i'm gonna uh not fight every bit i can to use

00:30:54.960 you know this opportunity to say we must sit at the table we must solve this issue of course well i just

00:31:02.620 wanted to read you a couple messages that i've gotten from parents from female athletes themselves

00:31:09.640 in oregon who know you and again i think it speaks volumes about who you are uh not just as a coach but

00:31:16.420 i think more importantly as a person uh this is from someone they said they just fired my track

00:31:21.280 coach uh who coached he actually coached the girl who beat the boy here in oregon all he did was

00:31:27.000 express why he think we why he thought we should rethink the rules he's taken this team to the state

00:31:31.800 championship three years in a row now this is insane what can we do this is another one that says

00:31:37.040 i have known so many people whose sons and daughters who have run for this man and said that he is the best

00:31:42.320 human ever how can we help i mean these are just everyday people i could keep going john of messages

00:31:48.620 that i've received that that just shows how many people's lives that you've touched and that you will

00:31:54.640 certainly continue touching uh as you keep keep coaching i keep advocating for this issue too

00:32:00.800 uh what can we do to support you is there a website that we can go to to donate uh to keep

00:32:09.380 helping along with what you're doing yeah there's there's a go fund me um i can't actually remember

00:32:14.500 the name what it's called it's got my name in it john parks let me look at what my parents said on this

00:32:20.340 um it's right here um it's the uh support coach john parks on go fund me um and um they can donate to

00:32:29.600 that and money that i'm not in a i'm not in a poverty situation but i'm but i am losing my health

00:32:35.520 insurance on june 30th and i uh have other expenses obviously losing my income that will have to

00:32:40.580 transition but it's more like if some of this if this money is exceeds anything sometimes you hear

00:32:46.680 about these kind of things i want to people i'm going to use it to advocate for this to push for

00:32:50.940 um this kind of support to to push back it's not going to go to enrich me personally after discovering

00:32:57.680 my basic things i'm going to lose it will go to a hundred percent towards this cause and it may end up

00:33:03.580 being a donation or whatever to a group that's fighting for these rights or i do you know whatever

00:33:08.180 way i can advocate for it because i appreciate everybody wanting to support me i appreciate

00:33:12.200 people coming up and support me it is a challenge and it hurts to lose because i mean those quotes

00:33:20.000 almost made me come to tears because i i really love the the relationships and coaching and and what

00:33:27.580 you can do of seeing kids grow and um and coaching at all different levels i've had different types of

00:33:33.520 experiences but in each one i've always felt like i've made a positive impact and try to and sometimes

00:33:39.280 um you know you want to do more but you're certainly trying for every kid to grow and become a better

00:33:46.440 human and that's been my modus operandi of coaching all along it's i think the reason i have

00:33:52.500 success i'm a i think i'm for the high school level i see in the co in the coaching technical

00:33:57.500 aspects but i think my secret's always been i show the kids i give a damn that i care and i really 0.68

00:34:02.700 empowered you know but i'm at the meet yesterday and i'm talking to coaches there say i've got a kid

00:34:07.760 on my team my old team but i got she's you know she's going to be a senior next year and i think

00:34:12.120 she'd be a great fit for your school and they're like yes that's you know it's great and um so i i'm

00:34:17.520 always going to be advocating for my athletes and trying to help them reach their goals and i

00:34:21.860 appreciate those people recognizing that because it makes me feel a little bit better about you know

00:34:26.440 the situation because it's it's you know you worry about some people can say oh there's something we

00:34:30.300 not know no there's really nothing else you don't know on this i've been pretty transparent as much as

00:34:34.520 it can be about it with the legal issues hanging over me and so it's very frustrating um in that aspect

00:34:41.100 but very very rewarding in all the other ways so i appreciate the support i appreciate you

00:34:44.980 giving me a chance to talk about it of course well people people are are i think waking up

00:34:51.380 they understand uh the hoax that can be the media sometimes that article you mentioned um the the

00:34:58.780 oregonian or whatever it's called that was the most atrocious i mean slanderous piece and but people

00:35:07.040 see it well and that's the thing let me say this quick story riley i um i had planned for six eight

00:35:13.560 months um really longer than that but it but officially planned on that day to take my french

00:35:20.180 husband the cousin my cousin who lives in atlanta and her french born husband uh wine tasting he's a

00:35:26.400 big wine guy and oregon's got a great wine country and so we had planned it and it was the three of us

00:35:31.460 and and i'm needing to talk to uh this reporter from an oregonian and i talked to another one i knew

00:35:38.000 better and i could trust because he was a veteran reporter he retired and yeah and i knew he would

00:35:42.880 would understand where i was coming from better and but then this other guy was trying to get a

00:35:47.700 hold of me i said i'll talk to you tonight but before i could he posts all this stuff that's in

00:35:52.040 that story i subsequently provided the um information from my principal's uh report that refuted several

00:36:01.760 of the things that were slanderous that you mentioned there in that article that was on tuesday and into

00:36:07.660 wednesday and they still didn't make a full correction on the online which isn't that hard

00:36:12.620 i emailed again the editor of the paper theresa bottomly and i said why did this get run today on

00:36:20.480 sunday in the hard copy the printed edition when another reporter for them had taken over because

00:36:25.720 in defense of the other guy's a young guy and he he was getting married on saturday apparently what i was

00:36:30.380 told and so his mind probably wasn't 100 on the on his work but that's no defense that's no excuse

00:36:36.620 they they slandered me by allowing this to come out and i've got witnesses i gave them phone numbers

00:36:42.280 talk to these people talk to people mother plus schools that can refute all the things that were

00:36:46.480 said in that piece against me um and so it's really frustrating uh that that is still out there uh i made

00:36:54.740 that clear uh and you know we'll see what happens with the with the oregonian and they're what they

00:37:00.420 publish in the future but trust me i'm 100 not in any way uh accepting that that can happen and so

00:37:08.060 that's you know i can't without saying too much i'm gonna say there'll be there'll be recourse

00:37:12.220 good well good it's it's pushback like that that will help uh others that will transcend far beyond just

00:37:21.260 just you and this topic uh because if it's happening here if it can happen to you john parks

00:37:27.440 it can happen to anyone exactly so we could not be more grateful for you we will certainly support

00:37:33.660 you i encourage everyone to check out your gofundme uh this is a worthwhile cause uh it is a necessary

00:37:39.920 one uh and we'll be amplifying anything along the way any updates any progress uh with you and what

00:37:48.160 you're pursuing what you're fighting for uh and so again thank you for so fearlessly defending

00:37:52.660 your athletes i wish we had more coaches like you well i appreciate that and again i i appreciate your

00:37:59.260 efforts to protect girls and female sports because uh without that protection we'll lose them i'll lose

00:38:05.680 the integrity of what we've been the reason they exist in the first place thank you for tuning in uh

00:38:11.620 i've said it before and i'll say again i always love talking to people who understand what's at stake

00:38:17.500 just your everyday person uh who was unfortunately directly impacted by this movement they saw the

00:38:24.320 adverse effects of the gender ideology movement and what it has meant to them and their livelihoods

00:38:31.160 uh couldn't be more grateful for john parks uh his ability and willingness to stand firm when called

00:38:38.560 uh i hope we can all be like john we can all certainly learn from john make sure you check us out

00:38:43.640 at outkick.com like and subscribe anywhere where you get your podcasts i hope you celebrate the

00:38:49.460 anniversary of title nine accordingly call out the hypocrisy don't let these virtue signaling democrats

00:38:56.500 uh these elected officials get away with posting on twitter or on x or any other social media platforms

00:39:03.520 standing on the house floor telling you that they champion women and girls because they don't they can't

00:39:09.700 even define what one is and how in the world can you defend what you can't even define call out the

00:39:16.540 hypocrisy it's our job as as americans as american citizens to do just that uh but nonetheless we will

00:39:23.620 see you guys again next week

00:39:24.900 you

Gaines for Girls with Riley Gaines - June 26, 2024

Fired For Calling For Fairness

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript