Gaines for Girls with Riley Gaines - Why CA Is Ground Zero For Trans Athletes ft. Brooke Slusser

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00:00:30.000 there's an unspoken rule in today's culture believe all women unless it's inconvenient 0.99

00:00:40.780 or unless believing women would require you to question the man in the situation

00:00:46.660 then suddenly the woman speaking out she is questioned she is dismissed or at worst she

00:00:54.100 is attacked today we are talking to brooks slusser we talked to kaylee ray on the riley

00:00:59.500 Gaines Show a few weeks ago, I encourage you to go back and watch that episode. It might give you

00:01:03.440 a little context for today, but I guess 30,000-foot overview. Brooke Slusser played on the

00:01:08.260 women's volleyball team at San Jose State University. She found out that a man that she 1.00

00:01:16.680 had been playing with, that she had been living with, was posing as a woman. The institution that

00:01:23.520 she trusted, that she believed had her interest at heart. Her university lied to her. They stripped

00:01:30.160 her of her ability to consent. Really horrific stuff. We're talking to her today. She went public

00:01:36.760 about unknowingly sharing a team and these close living spaces like apartments, like hotels on

00:01:44.420 overnight team trips with this male teammate. And now she's really been at the center of major

00:01:49.740 backlash online. So if you are a praying person, I encourage you to pray for her. Pray that she

00:01:56.060 leans on her faith and her creator throughout all of the crazy times. If you want to hear about them,

00:02:02.440 stay tuned. Listen here. Rosen lasagna, medium power, 15 minutes. Sounds like Ojo time. Let's

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00:02:32.220 or visit conxontario.ca well brooke thank you for joining the riley gain show uh before we get into

00:02:39.520 anything we were just talking off air about this like glorious collection of medals behind you

00:02:45.440 tell us about this my gosh i'm at my parents house in texas and they have like a whole metal room

00:02:52.280 with all of me and my sister's plaques and awards and like i'm on my half of the room her the other

00:02:58.040 half the room's like all of her stuff so it's just like everything we've ever gotten in volleyball

00:03:02.940 beach and indoor so it's kind of crazy but it's since i was like 11 that it started so i love

00:03:10.840 that. And it does, it speaks to how it's a lifelong journey to be able to really compete and succeed

00:03:16.760 at the highest level. And of course, trust parents to create a shrine of their, their children in

00:03:23.460 their own homes. I love that so much. Gosh, you have been all over the place in terms of your

00:03:29.300 social media presence, in terms of your advocacy. I'm sure so many people know you, or at least can

00:03:36.620 account some of the things that you have gone through over the past few years, but can you

00:03:41.000 give us just a little insight on your experience playing volleyball, especially at the collegiate

00:03:45.620 level? And I think what's interesting too, is going from a place like the university of Alabama,

00:03:50.960 a big sec school to then San Jose state university. Can you kind of walk us through that first?

00:03:56.720 Yeah. I mean, I think the reason I loved Alabama so much, I mean, I committed when I was 14 years

00:04:02.120 old, so I didn't even know you could commit when you're that young, but that was before they came

00:04:06.200 up with all of those rules of having to wait until like your junior year or something to commit

00:04:10.320 so i committed like two weeks before they came up with that rule wow no i knew nothing she must

00:04:16.640 have been in like seventh or eighth grade at the time yeah i think i was just finishing my freshman

00:04:21.680 year of high school oh wow which is insane that someone would allow someone that age to make that

00:04:26.820 decision but besides the point it was just like alabama was totally my comfort zone like southern

00:04:33.400 and like very much cultural same values like all of the same things I was like I love it here like

00:04:38.800 I could so see myself going here it was an amazing school you can imagine like the amenities and the

00:04:44.680 access that you have to like nutritionists and recovery and everything like it's absurd

00:04:49.460 and I mean I started since I was a freshman there I ran a 5-1 and it was amazing I just didn't

00:04:56.620 really have the most enjoyable time with the head coaches that I had there because I was recruited

00:05:01.800 by one she got fired and then a new one came in and basically everyone from my team transferred

00:05:07.400 right after she got hired it was awful but after that I just like completely lost the love for the

00:05:14.160 game whatsoever like I just hated it I got to the point where I asked my parents I was like I just

00:05:18.460 want to quit and then you know my dad my dad was like slusters aren't quitters like you can transfer 0.85

00:05:23.880 and I was like you're so right so I ended up transferring and I was like I just want to get 0.98

00:05:27.840 out of the power five. I want to just enjoy it. Like the power five is such like a business

00:05:32.520 mentality. It's very transactional. And I was like, I just want to go somewhere where I can

00:05:37.040 have a life and enjoy it. And maybe that means I need to go in the complete opposite direction of

00:05:41.700 what I think I wanted in a school. And so I entered the transfer portal going into my junior

00:05:47.640 year of college. And San Jose was actually the first school that emailed me. And I was like,

00:05:54.420 there's no way I'm ever moving to California. Like I've always thought that. And then as it

00:06:00.720 went on, I was like, I have a few options, but why not just explore all of them? So I responded and

00:06:06.060 they're like, yeah, we'd still love to have you went on an official visit. And I just loved like

00:06:11.740 they seemed to care about me as a person. Like the conversations we were having weren't like,

00:06:17.040 this is how we see you on the court. These are the things we think you can accomplish as a

00:06:21.260 volleyball player it was like we're going to dinner and just talking about life joking around

00:06:25.660 talking about how like they give like fun off days just to go to the beach or like

00:06:30.480 that type of stuff and i was like this is exactly what i need like go to practice i can lock in for

00:06:35.840 four or five hours a day and then afterwards i'm not having panic attacks waiting for the

00:06:40.480 next practice tomorrow so i thought that was like okay this seems right like this seems like it

00:06:47.280 could be great wish you could skip this ad we get it wish you could just skip to retirement

00:06:57.700 we got you cooperators can help you hit play on your financial future cooperators

00:07:06.540 get investments insurance and advice from someone who gets you

00:07:10.640 terms and conditions apply so i ended up committing like i want to say like a week later

00:07:18.880 to san jose state it is um it's so interesting hearing you talk about kind of the role that

00:07:25.880 the coaching staff at university of alabama played in your love for the game in general

00:07:30.100 because we had kaylee ray on um just a few weeks ago and she had a similar experience

00:07:37.880 Same thing with me.

00:07:39.080 I loved my coach the entire way through, to be honest with you.

00:07:41.380 But we found out as a team some pretty horrific facts after graduating about our coach and

00:07:49.140 sexual involvement that really tainted my view of him and the institution.

00:07:54.420 So all that to say, coaching staffs and the problems that exist there, there's no shortage

00:08:00.260 of those.

00:08:01.040 And then you commit to California or to a university in California where, uh, maybe a change of pace, a change of scenery. California is objectively beautiful. But of course, what you initially thought you were signing up for is just not what you got in terms of, uh, the game that you would be playing, of course, committing to a women's volleyball team.

00:08:24.940 That was not the case. Can you walk us through when you learned that you were sharing the court

00:08:30.820 and living accommodations, quite frankly, with a man?

00:08:35.500 So I was at San Jose State for, I want to say it was like three or four months. I'm just taking a

00:08:40.700 guess. I don't remember like the date. And I was going to Hibachi with some of my guy friends from

00:08:47.860 basketball. And then some of my teammates, my other roommate actually was with us. And it was

00:08:53.560 like a little food truck because there's food trucks everywhere out there and we were waiting

00:08:59.480 for our food in the car and me and my roommate are sitting in the front seat of my car just

00:09:02.880 talking I don't even know about what and they're in the back seat talking about stuff and then all

00:09:08.220 of a sudden I hear them referring to Blair the man on my team as like a dude and a man and I was

00:09:15.180 like what are y'all talking about and they looked at my roommate and they were like she doesn't know

00:09:20.340 you don't know and I was like no what and my roommate was like I wasn't gonna be the one to

00:09:26.420 tell her and so that's when they looked at me and they were just like you know Blair's a dude right

00:09:31.760 like Blair's a full-on man and I was like what do you mean like how do you know this like just is

00:09:38.000 this a known thing does everyone know this am I just like out in the dark no one just decided to

00:09:43.720 not tell me and my roommate was like everyone just kind of finds out on their own like it's kind of

00:09:50.520 just you kind of just figure it out as you go like but no one wants to be the one to tell you

00:09:56.020 because it's just kind of like a hush hush everyone knows but we know we're not supposed to talk about

00:10:00.100 it and I immediately asked because that year I was the only transfer and there were not I want

00:10:06.340 to say like nine freshmen on our team that year and I was like do any of the freshmen know like

00:10:11.180 these are like little 17 year olds coming and playing volleyball in college for the first time

00:10:15.280 like do any of them know and she was like i have no idea like i said everyone just kind of finds

00:10:19.960 out on their own and my mind was like as you can guess like just all over the place like i genuinely

00:10:26.120 was not processing it whatsoever i was just so confused so you had no prior indication

00:10:32.980 what about like sharing time on the court like were there was there evidence i guess in that

00:10:40.500 regard in terms of his skill set and yeah because obviously coming from sec alabama like that's

00:10:47.600 definitely a different skill level like obviously there's going to be better players just harder

00:10:52.900 hits you know what i mean and yes absolutely so i knew san jose state was going to be a little bit

00:10:58.620 of a drop of level of play and i was okay with that but i get i vividly remember i get to first

00:11:06.040 day of summer practices where it's like no coaches just our team and we're doing this warm-up drill

00:11:10.600 where it was just like one-on-one you get three touches by yourself and you're just playing

00:11:16.060 a point at a time versus one other person but it's only sharp cross so volleyball players would

00:11:22.540 probably understand like there's a 10-foot line and there we'd put some tape down so you literally

00:11:27.500 have like five feet from the 10-foot line to the net and in width like 10 feet ish that you can 1.00

00:11:34.700 hit this ball so obviously a lot of the girls are like roll shotting it trying to get warm like it's

00:11:39.380 not supposed to be a lot of hard swings and I just remember first day of practice he's on the court

00:11:44.700 and it's his turn and he just jumps like out of the gym and just is slamming every single ball

00:11:52.280 like in front of us like we can't even touch this ball it's absurd and I was like wow like

00:11:58.180 that's amazing like that's gonna be awesome for us to have in season I remember calling my parents

00:12:04.220 after the first day of practice like you won't believe this girl on our team and like how she

00:12:10.440 can hit and they're like wow like at least you're not playing against her and I was like I know

00:12:15.020 like this girl can slam a ball so there were previous like indications of like the skill

00:12:21.720 level was just absurd but I'm like like I've always said like I've never been raised to just

00:12:26.540 second guess like someone's lying to me about their gender so I was just like good for her

00:12:31.520 like not going to question that yeah again especially when it's someone on your team

00:12:36.240 yeah did you get any info on how the people in your car knew like was it something that

00:12:42.260 was kind of at this point like just a hypothesis or how did they know that Blair was actually a man

00:12:50.780 yeah well I mean you know sports is a small world like everyone once something gets out

00:12:56.500 eventually everyone's going to hear about it like I'm sure swim's a small world volleyball

00:12:59.600 everyone knows everyone somehow and Blair the man on my team was previously at uh northern north

00:13:08.660 I forget what it is coastal Carolina and I'm pretty sure I could be wrong because this isn't

00:13:14.760 for sure why he left there but the rules in the state of North Carolina changed and he ended up

00:13:20.280 transferring or taking a gap year and transferring to San Jose State and so I'm pretty sure a few

00:13:27.180 people just at san jose knew people that were previously at blair's school and they'd found

00:13:33.260 out from them and it just kind of slowly spread through the school right and there was some other

00:13:39.380 stuff that's just like drama gossip that happened at the time that more and more people figured out

00:13:46.540 and that one year that he was there by the end of that year basically every athlete at the school

00:13:51.660 knew and it was just kind of like you figure out on your own like i said just rumor and everyone

00:13:57.600 knowing someone that knew some little bit of information about it so what was kind of the

00:14:03.580 next step for you you learn about this a few months after transferring um obviously the season

00:14:09.140 was still impending so you play what what did that process look like ultimately once you found out

00:14:15.860 this information well my initial thought process was i was like i go home i'm like i don't even

00:14:22.100 know how to wrap my head around this information which what year was this by the way this was

00:14:28.320 2023 going like going in fall 2023 for my junior season and when i found out i'm pretty sure we

00:14:36.100 were still in preseason so we'd already played a little bit but we hadn't started real season yet

00:14:41.700 and i was like i'm not even gonna i didn't tell my parents i didn't tell my friends i was like i

00:14:49.120 don't i'm not even fully processing this because this is someone i'd already become started to

00:14:54.480 become friends with for months and i'm living with them and i'm also the new girl on the team

00:15:00.280 so i don't want to be going up to this person and like is this true because i'm not trying to

00:15:05.300 I'm trying to get in with the team I'm not trying to cause drama and so I remember he got injured

00:15:12.860 the day before our season started in practice so he was out our basically my entire junior season

00:15:20.840 until like two games left and I think I really was just like this isn't something I have to deal

00:15:27.080 with right now I still didn't tell anyone I honestly did not fully process it still even

00:15:33.980 that whole season because I was like he's just in the stands I don't have to worry about it

00:15:38.740 it is what it is and I genuinely just was like this I can't handle this I just starting to fall

00:15:45.340 in love with the game again like the coaches are kind of chill let me just live my life this isn't

00:15:50.180 my problem right so that's just kind of how I went about my junior year honestly but then he was able

00:15:57.580 to play again your senior year correct yes so then what did that process look like for you

00:16:05.760 well I think when I first started to really process like honestly have to process it

00:16:11.700 was about two weeks before we went home for summer my junior year was when that first article came

00:16:17.880 out and I want to say it was a Utah State mom that went to Reddix and that was like the first

00:16:23.280 article that really kind of blew it up and the next day we had a meeting and everyone was like

00:16:31.180 okay like we all know about this we're finally gonna get some answers like we're we have questions

00:16:36.540 ready we're ready to go we're like okay he's off the team obviously everyone knows now and we go

00:16:43.120 to this meeting and there's like compliance media personnel from school and like our coaching staff

00:16:48.340 I don't think the AD was present and immediately they never addressed the fact that it's a man

00:16:56.460 or what the article is about they basically just stated that this article has come out it's some

00:17:02.080 small like media like no one's gonna see it it's not Fox or anything and so like you don't need

00:17:10.180 to worry about it like we're handling it and if anyone asks you questions about it there's no need

00:17:14.980 to answer like just say this isn't your story to tell and you can push them our way if you need to

00:17:21.300 but this is like it's against HIPAA for you to gender identify Blair your teammate like we're

00:17:29.700 all going to be a family in this situation and stick together such coercion and still no clarity

00:17:35.560 at this point right like there was never any at least based on how I have understood what you

00:17:41.540 guys went through there was never any clarity um on the situation or what you guys were being

00:17:48.780 asked to navigate so it's incredibly confusing and chaotic again you're talking to college-age

00:17:53.780 girls um so the article came out but it eventually did begin to spread like wildfire yeah the

00:18:03.920 response that you guys had as a team when you i believe it was southern utah was that the first

00:18:10.820 state that ultimately decided to forfeit a match against you guys because of his allowance on the

00:18:17.480 team season yeah yeah so what what was that like when you learned of this because at that point

00:18:22.540 you guys could no longer just kind of push it to the side you were being confronted with it head

00:18:27.180 on yeah and it was weird because we were like i don't want to say i or actually i do want to say

00:18:35.680 i'm pretty sure the school just lied to us about why they forfeited and they i want to say they

00:18:42.660 initially told us that it was more of like they just needed to catch a flight or they didn't have

00:18:48.680 the time to play against us and everyone was like we know why they're forfeiting like you there's no

00:18:54.660 reason to lie here and they stood firm on the fact that it was not because we had a full man on our

00:18:59.960 team playing against them so they've even the forfeits they never once addressed it was because

00:19:05.900 we had a man on our team that these teams were forfeiting like anytime a team forfeited they

00:19:10.440 were just kind of like you're not traveling this weekend so like enjoy your weekend off

00:19:15.460 that's so crazy but there ended up being five separate teams that forfeited and i think a

00:19:21.920 couple teams several times throughout the season in the conference championship yeah um so that's

00:19:28.120 really hard what were your feelings during that because i would imagine again at this point it's

00:19:34.340 not just affecting the man it's y'all's record as well granted you guys are are technically

00:19:40.460 accepting a win onto your record but was there part of you that felt as if it was not a real

00:19:49.380 and solidified win therefore you didn't really earn it i can't imagine how i would feel in this

00:19:54.520 not even a part of me like all of me I was like this isn't even take it off the record honestly

00:20:00.660 at this point and just say we were like four and two for the season or something like I don't want

00:20:05.520 those that's we didn't play why is that even on our record at this point but you can imagine the

00:20:11.180 frustration when we're being told in practice almost every week at some point every other week

00:20:18.240 that we're not getting to play that's why we are here we're training we're training

00:20:23.200 six five hours a day like killing our bodies doing something we love and you're telling us

00:20:30.060 we can't go and do it because this one person is on our team and I just vividly remember like

00:20:36.880 as more forfeits went went on and started happening it was just every day in practice

00:20:42.520 like once we found out we'd be in our huddle about to start and going over the practice plan

00:20:47.020 And our coach would just be like, oh, and I just wanted to let you know, like, sadly, let's just say Nevada has forfeited, so we're not going to be traveling.

00:20:57.380 And he was like, I don't know if he would say, like, how do we feel about that?

00:21:01.860 Does anyone have anything to say?

00:21:02.960 Any questions?

00:21:03.660 I'm pretty sure he would just say any questions.

00:21:06.200 And it would just be silent.

00:21:07.640 And, like, I know it got to a point where I just would start crying.

00:21:10.940 I'm like, I'm just so frustrated and I feel like I can't say anything in that situation

00:21:15.900 because I know I'm going to get just screamed at for not agreeing with having a man on my

00:21:21.120 volleyball team.

00:21:22.220 And this one person is causing all these issues.

00:21:25.480 And so multiple people would just like start breaking down and sobbing.

00:21:30.160 And at one point, one of my, actually one of my roommates literally looked at Blair

00:21:34.880 and was like, do you have nothing to say for yourself?

00:21:37.900 like you know you're the reason that these games are getting forfeited and there wasn't a single

00:21:44.180 time that he would address us and be like I'm sorry at least thank you for still not still

00:21:49.940 being respectful towards me because my team was so respectful towards him all season no one was

00:21:55.840 gonna ask I was curious about the discourse among like your teammates and even you you've talked

00:22:02.300 about this coach who seems to be in support of having the man on the team so what was that I

00:22:09.660 guess these conversations like behind closed doors it was just us like so confused and at first our

00:22:18.180 especially like my head coach at first he was trying to state that he was very unbiased like

00:22:23.180 if you don't agree with it come to him if you agree with it come to him if you have questions

00:22:27.680 like doors always open and then I remember the first time I said like when does it get to the

00:22:34.460 point where we just remove the one person from this situation that's causing all these issues 0.53

00:22:38.440 and just play this game as women and he just like cussed me out and I was like okay well you're not

00:22:43.520 unbiased like you're fully supporting having Blair on our team so I can't talk to you about

00:22:50.180 disagreeing with it and I think that's why slowly like everyone just started shutting down and

00:22:55.660 honestly props to our team especially how young they were because there wasn't a single time

00:23:01.800 anyone was disrespectful to Blair like it might be absurd to say but like we would still go in

00:23:07.840 we're like you're not going to ruin my day anymore I'm going to put a smile on my face

00:23:11.440 try and enjoy this game that we're here for and just go along with my day and I don't know how

00:23:18.480 we did it but like everyone still treated Blair with respect and kindness even though not a single

00:23:23.440 person in that gem agreed with him being there well it's such a good point because again they'll

00:23:28.160 label you as transphobic or hateful or a bigot or insert the the derogatory term but the reality is

00:23:36.860 um i'm sure your whole team acted with compassion and grace and kindness uh even in a situation

00:23:44.380 where it's costing you something yeah uh there you guys did have one coach uh melissa betty

00:23:52.140 smooth. Can you talk about her and her role in all this? Because there was a really crazy story

00:23:58.200 that came out following, I guess, her support for you all as women on the team, where she was shot

00:24:05.300 at inside of her own home. Can you talk about her and kind of the role she played? I mean,

00:24:10.760 she was literally an angel sent from heaven for my team at that time. Like, everyone called her

00:24:16.340 mommy, like she was literally just the mother of our team. So even before all the craziness,

00:24:21.040 like anything in our lives that was an issue or we were kind of stressed out, like we could just

00:24:25.960 literally go sit in her office, cry it out, and she'd just be there for us. And so she was our

00:24:31.500 one coach we had that really was standing up for us, especially behind closed doors,

00:24:37.660 trying to support us and explain to compliance or even taught our head coach, like, do you not

00:24:43.080 understand how this is so hard for all these girls and why they're struggling to come into

00:24:48.120 practice every day and he just started to treat her terribly because she didn't agree with it and

00:24:53.560 so did the school and if I didn't have her at that time I really don't know how I would have

00:25:00.300 gotten through that season like there was times before games I'm just in the hall like sobbing to

00:25:04.600 her and she's just comforting me through this and like telling me I don't have to play and even

00:25:09.800 though I was like no I'm going to but there were times where I'd call her and I'm like I can't come

00:25:14.380 to practice today melissa like i cannot be in the same facility with this with these like with

00:25:20.100 mctodd and blair today like i just can't take it and she would like i'll tell todd you have a

00:25:24.940 migraine you're good stay home like i understand and she was just that for us like she would do

00:25:29.860 that for anyone and it was when she got released just 10 minutes before a game and they were just

00:25:36.740 like okay go play like the one person that's here protecting you is gone now go play and like i had

00:25:44.200 a freshman come sobbing my shoulder and just like all she said was I don't feel safe anymore like

00:25:48.540 we have no one I don't feel safe and it broke my heart did they give you a reason why she was

00:25:54.700 released no I'm not kidding we came in we were playing I vividly remember we were playing New

00:26:00.240 Mexico State at home and we were there obviously hours early getting everything done and we have

00:26:06.380 our jerseys on about to go out for our real game warm-ups and about 10 minutes before that this

00:26:11.900 compliance person that we've never seen in our life calls our team into our meeting room

00:26:16.820 and maybe sums it up within five minutes like your coach melissa is not going to be here she's not

00:26:22.560 going to be here any further and so on so that's just what's going on and if we get any more

00:26:29.320 information we'll let you know but that's about it as of now so she will not be here today and

00:26:33.660 going forward and then he was like okay go ahead and go play in a game now and everyone just starts

00:26:38.640 like breaking down into tears and i'm like are you kidding me like this is just absolutely

00:26:44.720 ridiculous yeah the one person who was there for you all as women who advocated for you all

00:26:51.180 as women was suddenly and forcefully removed from the team uh you cannot tell me that's a 0.96

00:26:59.340 coincidence and then again shot at inside her own home which uh i'm not here to speculate on as to

00:27:06.640 who or why maybe this is just california um but that's a pretty terrifying thing again defending

00:27:13.260 reality defending women and for that or at least a consequence of that that could be related could

00:27:20.120 be unrelated you're shot at inside your own home that's insane uh you've alluded a few times i

00:27:26.380 100 have my speculations and i definitely think it was someone very much inside of everything that

00:27:33.220 was going on that is such a scary crazy revelation and again we're labeled as hateful yeah um you've

00:27:43.200 talked about just kind of the emotions and feelings that you had throughout the season

00:27:48.020 can you speak broader to like the physical toll that something like this takes on you because i

00:27:54.940 think that's lost a lot where even by people on the right side of the issue who say you know why

00:27:59.920 don't women just speak up? Why don't they just not compete? It's not as easy as that. And it 0.99

00:28:04.680 really does take like a physical and emotional toll on you. Can you speak to kind of like what

00:28:10.440 you face and what you dealt with throughout the season? And even afterwards, after you had started

00:28:15.220 speaking up? Yeah, I, it was 100% the hardest thing I've ever had to go through in my life.

00:28:20.760 Like, there's not a day that I regret doing what I did, joining the lawsuits and really speaking up.

00:28:26.860 but like you're still I mean especially for me and my teammates like we're all still in the middle

00:28:32.440 of our season and I'm still waking up and going and seeing these people every single day that

00:28:38.640 have basically decided they hate my guts like my head coach basically stops talking to me

00:28:43.640 altogether unless it had to do with something during a game and it was really hard like I would

00:28:52.380 wake up and it's just like you're trying to put a face on every single day and just enjoy the thing

00:28:56.300 that you're there for. And then I'd come home, call my dad usually, and just like break down

00:29:02.160 and then finally just get to release all the like, pince up frustration and emotion from the day,

00:29:06.300 because you're just kind of gulping it down just to get through practice and try and develop as

00:29:11.380 an athlete while you're putting yourself in danger every single day and going against also

00:29:16.340 everything that I believe in being in there. But there's so many young girls on our team,

00:29:23.020 I just felt like such a responsibility for them to be there because I understand being a 17 year

00:29:30.100 old in college athletics like you don't really feel like you have a voice yet to really step out

00:29:35.600 of line at all and the amount that that took a toll on them like none of them are there anymore

00:29:42.580 obviously thank god at San Jose being coached by Todd Kress but I like completely lost myself

00:29:49.140 during that time. I look back at photos and videos of the time that I was there. And I was

00:29:54.240 like, that just was not me. Like my mom told me at one point, she was like, you're just a shell

00:29:59.440 of yourself. Like it was terrifying. It was, it broke my heart. It broke my family's heart.

00:30:04.940 And looking back, I was like, it's so true. Like I was draining every ounce of just like

00:30:10.900 running on adrenaline every single day, trying to get through going into that gym and being around

00:30:16.920 those people that were putting DEI representatives on me for believing in what I believed in and

00:30:22.660 having compliance sit in practice or in our locker room while we're changing in case someone decides

00:30:28.980 to attack Blair. And so it's just going into something where it's like, no one's here to

00:30:36.120 support you. And you're basically on your own. And they've proven that by getting rid of Melissa,

00:30:40.420 which made things 10 times harder and it's it's hard to say that also speaking out at the same

00:30:49.460 time definitely made it 10 times harder just because I'm speaking out against what I'm a part

00:30:58.120 of honestly and then going in and them seeing those things and going into practice and them

00:31:04.120 hating me more and more for it every single day and so it definitely made it harder and like my

00:31:09.340 coach pulling up articles about things and honestly, sometimes things that I didn't even say

00:31:13.840 and just like ripping into me for an article and then me not even getting him to practice that day

00:31:19.660 because he didn't like something he saw or filing Title IX cases against me for misgendering a man

00:31:25.140 on my volleyball team. So you can imagine like months and months of that. It's awful. Like I

00:31:31.480 can't imagine having a daughter and having to go through that. Yeah, that's so brutal. Speaking up

00:31:37.900 mid season while you're playing, uh, as you alluded to having to see the male athlete that

00:31:43.640 you're respectfully talking about by the way, but of course, opposing his allowance on your team,

00:31:47.800 uh, the living accommodations situation, how your university and entire institution

00:31:53.080 lied to you, stripped you of your ability to consent, I think is the most plain and,

00:31:59.160 and, uh, really sinister way to put it, but accurate way to put it. Uh,

00:32:04.100 uh so all that to say you're no stranger to the backlash but i would say over the past few weeks

00:32:10.540 maybe the past few months it's increased even more than it had been previously uh there's a

00:32:18.200 couple tweets here i want to read you from people online uh this guy this they them it could be a

00:32:24.500 girl i have no idea this human being says that this b word is mad because she became friends

00:32:30.920 with a trans woman nothing bad happened they were good friends she just found out she was trans 0.95

00:32:34.760 and is now going on this disgusting grifter culture war bs absolutely soulless and i hope your god 0.97

00:32:40.260 punishes you this person says literally nothing bad happened to her the trans woman was her friend 0.87

00:32:45.780 and is now being vilified for doing nothing wrong and so what do you have to say to these people

00:32:50.780 who seemingly have never played a competitive sport in their entire life yeah i mean they just

00:32:57.120 don't understand like I've told it because I was never really a political person before all this

00:33:04.080 I mean I was young obviously I don't really think you really start to educate yourself on it until

00:33:08.020 this age and so I was never really had strong opinions I had my baseline morals and that was

00:33:14.600 about it and so going into it I was like if it really hadn't affected me if I'm being very

00:33:22.620 transparent if it would have never affected me personally in my day-to-day life I would have

00:33:28.260 never spoken out about it like you're not affecting me personally I don't agree with what you're doing

00:33:33.540 but live your life and that's it but it was truly when it started affecting me personally day-to-day

00:33:39.360 like I'm just trying to go in do what I love and I'm leaving practice basically playing dodgeball

00:33:43.800 trying to get out of the way of a ball that's being swung at five times harder than any women 0.98

00:33:49.500 ever could, even at professional level. And I can confidently say that because I coached boys

00:33:56.420 volleyball this past year, and it was 16 and 18s club volleyball. And I got to play with them and

00:34:02.340 it was amazing. But I'm like, the 18s boys are at my level. Like it was fun to play with them

00:34:07.500 because they were my level and hitting harder than I've ever could have. So it's just the level,

00:34:12.980 the endurance the athleticism like the strength of all things that no woman can compare to that

00:34:20.120 but also then sharing bathrooms and my apartment unknowingly like that is sexual abuse like you're 0.83

00:34:28.300 taking away the consent of these women to show who they want what they want when they want

00:34:33.380 practically so it's like there's so many different aspects we can talk about on how it's not okay it 0.90

00:34:39.540 doesn't matter if I didn't walk away with a broken neck, it's still not okay in every way

00:34:44.800 possible. Okay. I know a lot of people who privately and quietly deal with private student

00:34:50.220 loan debt. Uh, if you've watched the show before, then you've heard me mention my friends at why

00:34:54.200 refi before, uh, what they're doing is incredibly impressive. It's needed quite frankly. Uh, so if

00:35:01.120 you are stuck with private student loans that feel impossible, or like your monthly payment

00:35:05.600 is way higher than what you can actually afford, or maybe you've fallen behind. Maybe you're in

00:35:10.240 default. You are not alone, and you are not out of options. Why refi? They work specifically with

00:35:15.860 people in that same situation. They refinance private student loans that most places won't

00:35:20.860 even touch, and they actually sit down one-on-one to craft a custom payment plan based on your

00:35:28.780 ability to pay, what you can actually and realistically afford. What does that mean?

00:35:32.340 it means lower monthly payments. It means a low fixed, fixed interest rate. It means a real path

00:35:37.080 forward instead of just that feeling of being stuck or like there's no light at the end of the

00:35:41.720 tunnel. And the best part about it is they really don't care about your credit score. So if this is

00:35:47.420 something that has been weighing on you, it doesn't have to be this way. Go to why refi.com

00:35:52.160 Y R E F Y.com and tell them that Riley from the Riley gain show sent you. Yeah. You know,

00:35:59.860 it's such a it's such a harmful message that they're sending to young girls to basically

00:36:05.640 just ignore their gut instincts right this is after all of the believe all women me too movement

00:36:11.800 now you're telling girls to ignore whatever gut instincts they have yeah to be vulnerable to strip

00:36:18.080 down naked and just shut up and take it it is so i think when you put it as plainly as that which

00:36:24.200 again is entirely accurate yeah you realize what a harmful message it is and so um now you you are 0.87

00:36:31.700 involved as you said in some lawsuits um but one of the one other thing i wanted to mention very

00:36:36.840 briefly that i just remembered is you were posting about this on tiktok this situation

00:36:41.140 and you were censored right talk about this yeah i mean i finally think i got to a point where i

00:36:47.720 was like obviously so many other people have gotten to tell snippets of my story just doing

00:36:52.700 interviews and stuff but i finally just wanted to be able to sit down and like honestly it's kind of

00:36:57.660 a therapeutic thing too just like talk about it like let's not suppress this let's just talk about

00:37:02.860 it and like put it out there and i posted like parts started posting parts on tiktok and i think

00:37:12.120 within a week they on my whole account got taken down and i was banned from tiktok and i was like

00:37:18.640 oh, okay, this is interesting. And it kind of blew up that it got banned. And so one of my good

00:37:25.260 friends at Fox actually reached out to TikTok and asked them for like, what's going on? Why'd this

00:37:31.280 happen? And then within the hour, they unbanned it, but they just basically monetized and took

00:37:37.020 down all of my like, part videos of what happened and left anything else up that had nothing to do

00:37:42.840 with it so I've found out since then that you cannot misgender or bully a group of people and

00:37:52.360 that was what I was doing supposedly do you think you'll still post on the app now I think so I'm

00:37:59.800 gonna have to figure out the wording to be able to actually blatantly tell my story unless I just

00:38:06.900 want to talk about what happened with the school which there is plenty but I finally wanted to

00:38:11.800 just sit down and talk about everything that i went through and i guess just tiktok just doesn't

00:38:18.000 allow that which was frustrating honestly they don't um of course tiktok itself i think inevitably

00:38:25.520 has become i guess a better place as compared to 2020 or 2021 uh for conservatives and i think

00:38:33.640 with trump stepping in ultimately to say help save tiktok yeah but it is still filled and

00:38:38.580 infiltrated with activists who will shut down conversations they don't like who will censor

00:38:44.680 people who uh quote unquote misgender those who identify as trans um so yeah conservatives you

00:38:53.700 have to find ways to like talk about things like um even in your captions they flag captions if

00:39:00.400 you have a word in there that um i guess would raise concern to those said activists yeah and

00:39:06.600 so they'll take it down within seconds of you posting it um so again only something conservatives

00:39:11.440 have to deal with we don't see this on the other side i would imagine if blair took to tiktok

00:39:15.900 to tell his side of things uh those videos would definitely still oh and i've heard he has i haven't

00:39:22.980 seen them but i've some of my friends have actually said that he has and the things that

00:39:28.200 he's posting i'm like oh so that's not bullying but mine is okay okay have you guys i guess been

00:39:36.360 in contact at all following i guess your career your your prominence in the space all i want to

00:39:44.500 say honestly our last sit down conversation we ever had because i tried to be very transparent

00:39:50.640 about everything i did i wasn't trying to hide anything and so i think the last sit down

00:39:54.920 conversation we really ever had one-on-one was when i was telling him i was joining the lawsuit

00:39:59.040 mid or beginning a season my senior year so talk about that lawsuit um and what it is who you're

00:40:07.800 suing and i guess what you're suing for well there's a group of us you're a part of it that

00:40:13.480 we are suing the ncaa for title nine violations and i honestly think that that could go really

00:40:21.640 long way because my other lawsuit is with the mountain west and we are kind of hitting some

00:40:27.340 roadblocks in that one right now. And they've actually dismissed a lot of the other girls 0.98

00:40:31.880 statements. So our minds really the only one that's still a part of that lawsuit. But I'm

00:40:38.480 really hoping that the NCAA one keeps pushing forward because that could help really change 0.98

00:40:43.480 the title nine rules and making sure that those are upheld and not allowing men to be protected

00:40:49.860 under that. And so that's the biggest thing that I hope for, because I think if the NCAA won't

00:40:55.360 change their rules overall, at least Title IX can be protected for women. Absolutely. And you're

00:41:02.840 right, we have seen some pretty good signs. I'm no legal analyst. But there are, I think, good

00:41:12.820 indication that we will be victorious in this suit. We've seen some action from President Trump

00:41:18.340 and his administration, the Department of Education, the Department of Justice getting

00:41:22.520 involved and investigating San Jose State University. And they came out with a pretty

00:41:27.380 favorable ruling saying that, yes, SJSU did in fact violate Title IX. Thoughts on that and what

00:41:36.340 you hope to see come from this investigation and the ruling now? Yeah, I mean, when I first saw the

00:41:42.500 ruling initially when it first came out, it was honestly really exciting because it was kind of

00:41:47.400 like the first win that I've really gotten to have since starting everything. And like my

00:41:52.320 parents were so excited like at least san jose state's going to be held accountable in some way

00:41:57.760 like bare bare minimum in my opinion what did they have to do was it like apologize is that

00:42:03.240 it was basically the same exact thing they asked of upenn and just like apologize you're not a

00:42:08.840 like allowed to be forced to use someone's genders that they prefer there was a long list of things

00:42:16.300 i read but basically just sending out individual emails and apologizing for what they did and

00:42:21.160 taking accountability did you get an email apology no because i don't know if you saw the president

00:42:27.320 of sjsu came back and posted to their community and staff like we still stand by the fact that

00:42:34.680 we have done nothing wrong we love our sjsu community and we are very inclusive to anyone

00:42:40.300 and everyone and so we will not be apologizing for something we don't believe we did wrong

00:42:46.220 and so they've passed that i think it was i forget what the date was but the

00:42:53.400 doj gave them that time period to send out those apologies and they've yet to do so

00:42:59.060 so now i know they're threatening federal funding if they don't follow the guidelines that they were

00:43:05.820 sent well i hope that's what we see honestly and i i hate to say it because again with federal

00:43:12.160 funds, they do a lot more than enforce this, these DEI policies, they do do good with the

00:43:18.060 federal funds. And so to see them willing to just totally dismiss all the good that can be done

00:43:23.640 to allow for the bad, I guess it shows you where their priorities are. So I hope we see

00:43:29.400 like the full hammer of justice brought down from the Department of Justice and President Trump's

00:43:35.400 administration and so kind of last thing for you is speaking out worth it we've talked about some

00:43:43.060 of the hardships we've talked about again the emotional toll the physical toll uh the hatred

00:43:47.580 and the negativity and and the just profanities that are hurled your way online is it worth it

00:43:54.200 100 i mean ever since i started obviously it's terrifying at first because you're being told

00:44:02.280 and manipulated and gaslit and all these ideas of your scholarship could be on the line and

00:44:06.960 it's a it's illegal against HIPAA but once you educate yourself they can't do anything to you

00:44:13.580 like yes they decided they hated me and that they were going to talk to me less but at the end of

00:44:20.600 the day the biggest priority for me and the biggest push was I was like if I know that I

00:44:25.140 have a daughter in the future and I could have done something and didn't I would kick myself

00:44:30.680 for the rest of my life. And so knowing that hopefully I can help make a change for the long

00:44:37.660 term for the future generations of women, it's 100% worth it. And I have like, I have so many

00:44:44.180 blessings in my life that I never thought I would have had ever since speaking out. Like you meet

00:44:49.060 some of the most amazing people and like God has blessed me in so many different ways that I

00:44:54.800 couldn't have even imagined since doing this. I mean, it brought me back to my faith starting this

00:44:59.980 journey. And so there's not a second that I second guess doing what I did. And I recommend everyone

00:45:06.120 do it. Just educate yourself. And it's not as scary as it seems. No, it's really not. And like

00:45:12.920 you said, it really is liberating. It feels like a weight is off of your shoulders when you

00:45:19.200 confidently and emphatically state what you know is true and right and good and just and moral and

00:45:26.240 fair, when you can say that without hesitation or without fear of retaliation, or maybe even still

00:45:32.320 with fear, that's what I guess qualifies as being courageous, doing something even though there is

00:45:37.060 fear, then it is the most liberating, freeing feeling. So I'm right there with you. And how

00:45:44.700 encouraging that it brought you back to your faith. I would imagine in the situation that you

00:45:48.960 were in, and you're kind of don't have anything else to do, but to fall to your knees and kind

00:45:54.220 of surrender and so in that to have that be a part of your testimony uh is really powerful

00:46:00.340 it is and i mean it was amazing because i was actually at a church service yesterday

00:46:05.820 at my home church here at watermark in dallas and they had this couple come up who um

00:46:12.680 really were trying to reach the unreached in like very small countries where christianity

00:46:20.080 is just so illegal and you could just get killed for it and it was so eye-opening and they're like

00:46:25.400 yes it seems so terrifying to speak out against something that you are gonna get backlash for

00:46:31.820 and I think she said it was Matthew 2 where he really talks about how God will give you the

00:46:38.280 words when you're in the moment he will you will know what to say don't try and think about it

00:46:43.880 beforehand. You don't need to try and like, get all this bravery to go do it, just go do it. And

00:46:50.480 he he will lead you in the right way. And that was just like, I could have not resonated more

00:46:55.760 with something that could have been said on Sunday. But it's so true. Like ever since I've

00:47:01.320 started this journey, my steps that I've taken have never been so strong. Like, and that's why

00:47:07.420 I say like, I don't think anyone that does it regrets it. I love that so much. And it is so

00:47:12.800 true um if he calls you he will equip you you can think of several accounts in the bible uh joshua

00:47:20.120 who promised victory over the canaanites moses says he led the israelites out with aaron and

00:47:24.600 his staff and of course esther before she was brought before the king yeah so um for such a

00:47:29.700 time as this uh that is the verse that we will end with today um esther 4 14 which honestly i think

00:47:36.600 is really we we remember the back half of that verse that for such a time as this part but the

00:47:41.620 front half feels very relevant to what we're talking about, because it says, for if you remain

00:47:46.160 silent, you and your father's family will perish. And so that's really, I believe, Christ calling on

00:47:53.940 all of us to use our voices and to use them for good and to glorify him in all that we do.

00:47:59.000 So, Brooke, thank you. Thank you for doing just that. And as a mom who does have a daughter,

00:48:05.920 um thank you i was i was in your shoes too where it was the hypothetical of one day

00:48:11.860 i i hope i have a daughter of my own yeah well now she's here and so on behalf of her

00:48:18.280 thank you for your fight of course thanks for having me riley you're the best you're the best

00:48:25.240 thank you guys for watching the riley gain show you can subscribe right here we have new episodes

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Gaines for Girls with Riley Gaines - May 22, 2026

Why CA Is Ground Zero For Trans Athletes ft. Brooke Slusser

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