Riley Gaines tells crowd at Family Research Council to stop saying ‘biological woman’

‘We cannot refer to ourselves as biological anything,’ the former 12-time All-American NCAA swimmer said. ‘That’s admitting that there’s an unbiological alternative and there’s not.’

‘As a Christian myself, I know why this is happening,’ Gaines said. ‘It’s entirely spiritual warfare.’

Former 12-time All-American NCAA swimmer Riley Gaines said at the Family Research Council’s Pray, Vote, Stand Summit Sept. 15 in Washington, D.C., to stop using the term “biological woman.” 

“Notice how we refer to ourselves as ‘biological women,’” Gaines said. “I think that’s so funny because, and for the longest time I did too—I thought I had to make the distinction. ‘I’m a biological female and this person is a biological male.’ We have to stop with that.” 

“We cannot refer to ourselves as biological anything,” Gaines said. “That’s admitting that there’s an unbiological alternative and there’s not. There is man and there is woman. There is male and there is female. There is girl and there is boy and there is mother and there is father. … This idea that we can change what God created us to be is beyond absurd.”

“As a Christian myself, I know why this is happening,” the former University of Kentucky swimmer added. “It’s entirely spiritual warfare. It really is no longer a battle of right versus wrong or good versus bad. It’s moral versus evil.” 

[RELATED: UPDATE: SFSU documents show divided reactions to Riley Gaines attack]

Gaines tied Lia Thomas, formerly William Thomas, for fifth place in the 200-meter freestyle at the 2022 NCAA Championships. The NCAA gave the trophy to Thomas, a man, instead allowing Gaines to take photographs with the sixth place trophy. 

Gaines has been speaking out about her experience competing against a male and sharing a locker room with one. Gaines explained that Thomas is actually 6’4”, not 6’1” as Thomas’ Wikipedia states.

Gaines sarcastically referred to Thomas as a ‘trailblazer’ for being the first man to win an NCAA Division I women’s title, “beating out Olympians, beating out American record holders.” 

“Guys, these aren’t scrubs,” Gaines said. “They’re the most impressive female swimmers this world has ever seen.” 

She also recently challenged Keith Olbermann to a race after he said she ‘sucked’ at swimming.

[RELATED: Texas Gov. signs bill to protect women’s sports, accompanied by Riley Gaines and Paula Scanlan]

Gaines also criticized the Biden administration for lacking compassion for women. 

“A Biden appointee who now refers to women as egg producers most recently. Let that sink in,” Gaines said, referring to Admiral Rachel Levine’s remarks at an LGBTQ+ clinic in Alaska. Levine has served as Assistant Secretary for Health for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) since 2021. “Yet he has the audacity to talk about compassion. Where is the compassion for women?”

The Leadership Institute, the parent organization of Campus Reform, launched The Riley Gaines Center in August in Arlington, VA, to fight the movement to erase women and destroy women’s sports.