Gaines for Girls with Riley Gaines - Sitting Out For Women

00:00:00.000 hey everybody welcome back to the gains for girls podcast you may remember a couple weeks ago

00:00:11.260 a video going viral i mean millions and millions of views uh this video was an outkick exclusive

00:00:17.840 actually but in this video we saw five brave young girls based out of west virginia who took

00:00:25.120 the decisive action and saying no we're not going to be competing against a boy this was a middle

00:00:33.360 school track and field championships the event was shot put in this video we see the five girls

00:00:38.320 they step into the ring into the circle but ultimately they decided to walk out without

00:00:43.680 ever throwing the shot put ultimately this action that they took ended up getting them banned yes

00:00:51.760 you heard that right the girls got banned from girls sports they were banned from future competition 1.00

00:00:57.820 by their school district for protesting in this way the boy wasn't banned no that would make way too

00:01:03.980 much sense to ban the boy from girls sports let's ban the girls from girls sports uh which resulted 1.00

00:01:11.140 in the girls several of them plus their parents suing the school board the school district which

00:01:16.200 got the ruling overturned so that is certainly a big win but man it is a a sad sad day a sad world that

00:01:25.100 we live in when 13 14 year old girls have to be the adults in the room they have to be the ones 1.00

00:01:32.680 to defend themselves aren't there people in place whose job it is to protect these girls what about the

00:01:41.340 coaches what about the school district these girls parents which i'll say i met these girls

00:01:46.140 parents and they have wonderful wonderful parents who supported these girls every step of the way

00:01:51.300 nonetheless it's insane that these girls have to do this have to be spending their time middle school 1.00

00:01:57.600 age girls talking about this fighting for the rights of women like so many women did before them

00:02:04.680 but anyways i am so excited for this conversation so check out the conversation and interview here with

00:02:10.240 four of the five brave young west virginian girls well girls i am so excited to have you guys on i know

00:02:18.400 we got to meet each other in person down in west virginia at the capitol uh but uh and i told you this

00:02:24.820 there and i will tell you it 10 times over you guys and the actions that you have taken as such young

00:02:31.280 girls are brave it is inspiring and i think you guys set the precedent and the standard for people

00:02:38.680 even far beyond your age so i would be remiss if i did not tell you guys that but i wanted to give

00:02:45.320 you guys the opportunity to share a little bit about the instance of which i'm referring to here

00:02:52.420 the video went viral millions and millions and millions of views which i know that you guys never

00:02:58.840 anticipated that is certainly not why you guys did what you did but emmy would you feel comfortable

00:03:06.500 sharing the experience of what i'm referring to here last year we really this is my first year

00:03:13.140 starting track i think it was i don't know if all of us it was all our first years but i wasn't really

00:03:20.020 aware that that was a boy and so i met him at like our all county band or something and i talked to him

00:03:27.040 i i did not i had no clue not a clue that that was a boy and so i was talking to him at that track meet

00:03:33.340 and then people were telling me that's a boy and i was like i was just kind of like taken back like

00:03:39.400 i was like why is this allowed to happen like there's no way and then just he kept improving

00:03:46.120 and into this year we've had the idea to step out and so i talked to all of them and we did it and

00:03:52.520 here we are so you guys had your shot put you got into the ring acted like you were going to thrill

00:03:58.620 but then decided to step out of the ring i was so shocked to see the action that the school took

00:04:06.680 after you decided to do this because it wasn't it wasn't to to ban the boy from competing with you guys

00:04:13.640 they decided that they would ban the girls from competing in girls sports uh you girls who decided 0.99

00:04:21.620 to do this faced repercussions and were barred uh not allowed to participate in some of the future

00:04:28.820 competitions uh what in the world how did this come about do you guys know if he was taking any sort

00:04:36.020 of hormone replacement therapy or anything like that he was taking hormone blockers there for

00:04:41.620 a while i think since he was in like second or third grade i believe wow well the crazy thing is

00:04:48.700 uh and this is what blew my mind is the state of west virginia already had a bill in place that

00:04:54.980 would have prevented males from competing on girls teams and vice versa um but the aclu was suing the

00:05:03.460 state of west virginia which ultimately put a halt on the bill uh specifically in the case of this this one

00:05:09.520 male athlete um so i didn't know that this halt was in place and so when i found out that he was able to

00:05:17.840 compete with you guys i was shocked i thought no way uh this is already you know this has already

00:05:22.760 been prevented in west virginia there's there's great leadership there uh but that was certainly

00:05:27.360 not the case and so um there was a big win by you guys actually who were able to um push back after

00:05:37.200 some of the backlash that you got for ultimately stepping down um would one of you sabrina would you

00:05:43.860 want to talk about uh the action that you guys took after you were retaliated against and what that

00:05:49.620 looked like um so we knew that it was wrong that they like the coach had said stuff to us about it

00:06:01.660 and so we went to court about it against our school and the board of education and stuff and basically

00:06:13.780 set our peace with what happened at the meet and after the meet at practices and ultimately we

00:06:22.420 they decided that it was best that we should have a rule in place instead of it being unwritten

00:06:30.860 and then taking us out of the next meet for stepping out that's amazing that you guys were

00:06:39.420 able to um push back in that way and ultimately again uh help so many other people besides just

00:06:46.840 yourself you really set the standard and the precedent for for many girls to come uh what other kind of

00:06:53.720 backlash did you guys receive from your coach from your school what did this look like for you

00:07:00.600 that that that the public didn't get to see okay i'm gonna go first on this so i think it was like

00:07:07.420 the day of the day after one of the girls sent me like screenshots of snapchat because i'm not on

00:07:12.640 snapchat but becky basically was saying like she has more testosterone than me saying that like 1.00

00:07:18.360 i look like a boy and like i wasn't even yeah and like i wasn't even hurt by that because that was

00:07:25.160 just dumb to post that and where people can see and like it was just so insanely crazy so i wasn't

00:07:32.320 hurt by it at all but like i have the screenshots if i need it now so thank you and then there was

00:07:37.920 another thing we were at another meet and he was texting another teammate of his there's a screenshot

00:07:47.440 on snapchat saying that he was surrounded by save women sports and he like felt violated or whatever

00:07:54.560 it was like sending laughing emojis so i'm like there was like five of us like how are we surrounding him

00:07:59.780 like the eighth grade meet there was um there was like these people um i think one of the boys

00:08:07.980 walker told us that there was a lot of people wearing the same shirts like s2bws 0.74

00:08:13.320 we didn't know so have you guys felt pretty overwhelmed by the support that you received

00:08:20.120 since taking a stand i think it was way more than we expected i think we kind of gave a voice for

00:08:26.160 those people that were scared and now they're not scared anymore so i'm excited about that like all

00:08:31.040 the stuff that's being said about the assaults and all that like i'm i'm pumped like i'm like let's go

00:08:36.620 well it's huge and again i think it shows how courage begets courage and there's certainly

00:08:42.380 strength in numbers and speaking of the assaults and stuff this is again something that i had no idea

00:08:47.900 that was happening it seems to be a common trend but i didn't know that this was something that you

00:08:53.860 guys in the state of west virginia were facing we have now seen reports and other lawsuits and

00:09:00.180 different things of some of the inappropriate comments that this boy has made to girls in locker

00:09:07.160 rooms um and bathrooms and really just in general some of those things i mean very vulgar

00:09:13.480 explicit things that i don't even feel comfortable saying as a 24 year old woman i wouldn't feel

00:09:19.740 comfortable saying this and so what's your take on obviously we talk a lot about the unfair competition

00:09:26.080 side of things um but this is a whole different problem of this i guess overarching topic that we

00:09:33.940 spend our time talking about it's just insane to me like how can you let a guy go in the bathroom

00:09:40.960 with the girls like after everything women's fought for over the past like it's insane and it's just

00:09:48.880 honestly kind of laughable like what the heck the changing rooms like that's supposed to be a place

00:09:55.760 where women can change and feel safe without men being around but then you let a man go in the hair 0.98

00:10:02.400 like i was i was there for three years and i did not know like the first year i was there that that

00:10:09.180 was a nail and when i figured it out i was like this is weird like just not be around me and one time

00:10:16.680 actually i think it was me and i think it was you i think no it was seventh grade year and okay so um

00:10:27.920 we were standing in line for concessions and he leaned his shoulder on us and we didn't know who

00:10:34.240 he was and he came and he basically he got in line with us and at that time we didn't know that he

00:10:40.480 wasn't a girl so we were like yeah it's okay but i think that that was like the first like interaction

00:10:49.540 yeah the first interaction and then after that uh i met him at all county i realized that like he was

00:10:57.340 a guy and it's just it's all it's kind of scary actually that he's allowed to be in the same

00:11:05.520 bathrooms like people have now known what he's saying what he's doing how he's acting like what 0.75

00:11:11.360 he said emmy is ridiculous and it should not be like other people are still saying like it's okay for 0.89

00:11:17.440 him to do this it's okay for him to be able to go in the bathrooms but what about real women 1.00

00:11:21.360 like we're scared but we have to let him feel okay because we don't want to be we're transphobic

00:11:29.200 they're too worried about what the public will say about the trans people and not about our rights

00:11:37.400 yeah real that's the common theme that we've seen right we hear all the time the words be kind

00:11:44.380 be inclusive be compassionate other virtuous things that they say which in their true essence

00:11:50.340 are great things who doesn't want to be kind who doesn't want to be respectful or compassionate or

00:11:55.820 empathetic or or whatever they say but they've conflated the meaning of those words because it's

00:12:02.220 not kind to anyone to ask young girls to undress next to a man that's not what kindness is

00:12:08.760 and to point um they've totally sidelined women in a way to appease the feelings and the identity

00:12:17.500 of a man at the expense of our own uh so i couldn't agree with you guys more um what about your school

00:12:24.640 ultimate when ultimately when you took this this decisive action said we're not going to compete

00:12:30.360 against this boy uh i mean what was the response of your school of your coaches a lot of like the

00:12:37.760 coaches were like we agree with you but they didn't like make us feel like they agreed like

00:12:43.800 they were like um we fully support you but i don't think what you're doing is like helping the team

00:12:52.440 and like how was that help like how was that not helping the team we're helping the team realize

00:12:57.920 that competing against the boys is wrong like everyone should know that at school a lot of people

00:13:04.140 and some of the coaches they were like this isn't gonna do anything like you know that this isn't

00:13:08.920 gonna do anything you can do that but that's just not gonna affect anything and now that this has blown

00:13:13.860 up it's like obviously it did something like girls come to me at school saying you know this isn't

00:13:22.940 gonna do anything all you're doing is hurting your team they're all gonna hate you now but then after

00:13:28.240 it started blowing up they're like congratulations blah blah blah and like i was just like no you're not

00:13:33.880 gonna say that and backlash me for doing right do you think it's because people are scared do you

00:13:42.520 think people are fearful of at least your teammates you know your coaches other people um do you think

00:13:49.400 they're scared of being called names or the risk that they face for standing for women like way too

00:13:57.160 like scared i feel like they care more about like their social baddest than what's doing right

00:14:05.840 i feel like we've been like here in the past couple years like i just we've been like so like i don't

00:14:15.880 i i'm not trying to be mean or be transphobic i'm just trying to do what's right and i feel like lately

00:14:22.920 we've been caring more about what trans people trans women want and making them comfortable

00:14:27.980 but i feel like what about us and i feel like lately we've just been moved aside yeah

00:14:36.100 i feel like that should be like a hashtag or something like hashtag what about us because it's

00:14:44.780 it's so true it's a perfect way to kind of encapsulate what this movement is and and the

00:14:50.640 severity and how it's really harming women um but the fear you know okay so what set what do you

00:14:56.500 think set you girls apart we're missing one of you this is these are four of the brave girls uh but we

00:15:02.660 are missing the another one of the five who stepped out but what do you think it is that sets you guys

00:15:08.780 apart um you know what made you willing to do the right fair just moral thing despite the fear

00:15:17.060 i mean a lot of the kids they just thought seeing it as winning the winning part of it

00:15:23.940 and i want to do this for my kids for girls in the future for like i didn't care about the winning at 0.98

00:15:30.480 that point because obviously that just wasn't what it what's about at the bottom line it's not about

00:15:36.900 winning anymore it's about what's right and obviously the person who invented male bathrooms 1.00

00:15:42.380 and girl bathrooms knew there was a difference so why are we just throwing that all away like it's 0.96

00:15:47.520 just it's crazy like people are forgetting what like everything that's original and now everything's

00:15:58.080 changing and they think that like it's just everything's meant to change everything's not

00:16:03.500 meant to change some things are meant to stay the same so they think it's okay for it to just

00:16:07.560 all basically rules for like bathrooms and stuff to change what about other schools after you guys

00:16:14.560 drew attention to what was going on did you notice other schools um whether it was the school with

00:16:21.160 the the boy on the team or other schools in your county or district uh what did you notice about those

00:16:27.580 schools i noticed that um most of them were like talking about us like after we stepped out of the ring

00:16:34.220 they were saying um why would they do that like they're just hurting their team and stuff like

00:16:39.540 that and i'm like yeah a lot of schools from our district started started saying things about it

00:16:45.700 saying that we shouldn't have done that and that we're just letting our teammates down

00:16:49.720 and we pretty much just ignored them because we know what's right and we know what we're what

00:16:54.880 we're doing is right what did your parents feel about the stand that you guys had taken

00:17:00.120 100 it's just been the most support i think has come from all of us five and then our parents

00:17:06.420 they've definitely chipped in a lot and just given us their support and that definitely helps us a lot

00:17:12.440 i got to meet um most of your parents down in west virginia uh and your parents have done such a

00:17:19.400 great job it takes strong parents to raise strong daughters uh but your parents certainly did those 0.77

00:17:25.700 things which is um something i think we need to see more parents willing to do uh do you recommend

00:17:32.680 the action that you guys took in conceding and and ultimately stepping down saying no we're not going

00:17:39.800 to compete against this boy would you recommend that to other girls or women who face a similar

00:17:45.940 situation definitely 100 because i feel like this is what it's gonna take just for everybody to

00:17:54.880 refuse to compete because i mean i just think it's what's gonna work if everyone stops competing

00:18:00.640 against them or like anyone that does the same thing as becky pecky jackson i just think that

00:18:06.460 everyone should like take a stand to it like if if you do it then maybe um maybe they'll stop maybe

00:18:14.320 they'll go back to where they came from i feel like if everyone steps out then it'll finally open

00:18:19.540 everybody's eyes and realize that this is wrong and that something needs to change

00:18:23.960 especially because there are people out there who's like this isn't happening like no one like

00:18:29.640 they're like you're just being a bigot like it's not happening no one but the more we stand up the

00:18:34.280 more that we can show people it is happening it is a bad thing happening all over it's happening in

00:18:40.320 every state every level every division every sport uh we saw at the track and field championships

00:18:46.400 the state championships in oregon and washington just this past week males who are are dominating

00:18:52.540 other girls that's only happening one way right we we don't hardly ever see uh women entering into 1.00

00:18:59.440 men's sports or men's bathrooms or men's prisons or any any single sex space that's entitled to 0.90

00:19:06.700 a male so i totally agree with you how do you respond to

00:19:12.100 the people who say well you guys are just being transphobic or you're just being anti-trans or or

00:19:20.060 bigots honestly it's just i learned to ignore it for one because obviously i mean even though i don't

00:19:27.220 agree with like all of that jazz um i still love those people and i don't want to hurt their feelings

00:19:35.560 in any way and that's why we did this in such a respectful manner and that when people call us

00:19:40.840 disrespectful too i'm like we could have yelled stuff like we silently did it in our own way

00:19:46.400 and it's just we're not transphobic

00:19:49.400 posters that said go get away from here or anything like that the only thing we did to like

00:19:57.520 involve like to say what we're saying is the shirts and that's it and technically that wasn't even

00:20:04.340 targeting the individual it was just showing like i don't think that we're transphobic for standing up

00:20:10.820 for what's right and if that's what they're going to call us then it's just small-minded people

00:20:14.780 not to hear about the the well-being of women yeah at the last track meet we had he the we the other

00:20:22.820 girl that stepped out with us mckenna she was wearing a shirt that was supporting us like what 1.00

00:20:30.380 we usually have on and then becky and his other teammates were like pointing at her saying stuff 0.91

00:20:37.820 yelling stuff like just being upright disrespectful and rude and laughing and we're just like okay

00:20:45.560 whatever it's it's going to be his fault one day whenever he gets blamed for it and he's just not

00:20:53.380 taking the right approach of how to deal with it instead of yelling he could be silently and doing

00:20:59.260 stuff about it instead of screaming at his teammates and making causing a scene while a sport event is

00:21:06.560 happening i just right and i think us that just makes him look like the back guy totally and then

00:21:13.900 to go on social media and make comments about your physical appearance or or other things that are

00:21:20.860 totally unrelated to what you guys are talking about never once have you guys said anything bad

00:21:25.360 about becky the male never once have you said anything derogatory about people who identify as trans

00:21:32.280 no you are merely advocating for the bare minimum you want safety in your sports you want privacy in

00:21:40.060 your locker rooms and you want fair competition equal opportunity the bare minimum i cannot believe that

00:21:47.400 that has become controversial to say i cannot believe that um people can somehow find a way to

00:21:55.380 vilify or demonize you guys for saint but like i said i'm so proud of you i know so many others

00:22:04.580 who were inspired by your courage it's your courage who gave um a woman playing in the in the dart

00:22:12.820 world championship i believe uh the courage to step down same thing with billiards eight ball pool um it's

00:22:20.980 you guys 13 14 year old girls who inspired those women to take a stand and say no um so i couldn't be

00:22:30.260 more proud of you it's a sad sad day when you guys have to be the adults in the room um but it is

00:22:37.680 incredibly commendable and i think your courage will live on for decades so i'm so appreciative of you

00:22:44.880 guys and i'm very grateful you're able to come on and share more in depth um the experience that you

00:22:51.360 guys had and continue to have as you stand for what's right thanks for tuning in to the games for

00:22:57.700 girls podcast i hope you enjoyed this conversation with emmy with sabrina katrina and alana as i said

00:23:04.420 that's only four of the five we are missing mckenna but nonetheless so proud of and inspired by these

00:23:10.620 girls i would be remiss if i did not take a second to thank the attorney general of west virginia

00:23:16.200 patrick morrissey who's now on his way to being the governor of west virginia but he when he heard

00:23:22.520 about this happening in his state he immediately took action uh he is fighting back in the courts he

00:23:27.760 held a press conference for these girls uh really championed them and showed them the support that they

00:23:33.480 needed so thank you to ag morrissey he's really been a leader for the past 10 years on the gender

00:23:41.240 ideology movement and pushing back there so thank you to him uh make sure you check us out at outkick.com

00:23:48.260 like and subscribe anywhere where you get your podcasts i've got exciting news my book i cannot

00:23:54.560 believe it my book is now officially out it is called swimming against the current fighting for

00:23:59.500 common sense in a world that's lost its mind i hope you check out the book of course it's a more

00:24:04.780 in-depth detailed account to how we got here what we faced as division one swimmers at that national

00:24:11.840 championship meet uh the trajectory of where we're going what the ncaa is doing what the ioc is doing

00:24:18.360 what each each state is doing um the list goes on so make sure you check that out you can check it out

00:24:24.100 on amazon anywhere where you get your books um but thank you guys again for tuning in and we will see

00:24:29.360 you again next week

Gaines for Girls with Riley Gaines - May 29, 2024

Sitting Out For Women

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript