Riley Gaines endorses West Virginia plan to bring trans-exclusionary athletic policy before the US Supreme Court
Gaines: “The Bible tells us the outcome, and being a Christian that's all the reassurance that I need”
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From the April 24, 2024, edition of Fox News' America Reports
SANDRA SMITH (COHOST): Joining us now is former NCAA swimmer Riley Gaines, an OutKick contributor, and Patrick Morrisey, West Virginia Attorney General. Thanks to both of you for coming on. It seems there is a story every single day where girls, women feel threatened in their very sport. Those teenagers there, with the shot put and a show of protests, just spinning and walking off their competition because they did not think they had a chance. I mean, this has gone viral there in West Virginia. Riley, to you first. I know you made the point, why does it have to be 12, 13, 14-year-old girls who are standing up and being the adults in the room?
RILEY GAINES (OUTKICK HOST): I am still trying to figure that out, but let me just say I could not be more proud of these girls. Again, 13 and 14-years-old, they are in middle school yet they are the ones who are forced to be the adults in the room, to advocate for their own rights to equal opportunity, safety, and privacy which were once insured by Title IX — but now, of course, that is under threat — and once were insured by the law here in West Virginia, but now with the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling, it's all under threat which sets of course a terrible precedent. All of that to say could not be more proud, could not be more inspired by these girls. Ultimately that's what reminds me, revitalizes me, it reminds me what we are fighting for — it's girls just like Emmy Salerno and the other four girls who decided not to compete against a boy when given the opportunity.
SMITH: Mr. Attorney General what is your message here as this continues to be a reality for so many girls in this nation, facing biological males in their locker rooms in many cases? Why aren't there more people sticking up for them, especially these girls that are going through this at such a young age?
PATRICK MORRISEY (ATTORNEY GENERAL, WEST VIRGINIA): I think I want everyone in West Virginia and across the country to know that there are people standing up and they're going to fight for the rights of those young women. What we saw last week with those five young girls stepping up, I think that should be replicated across the country. But the stakes on this case and a lot of these issues, they wouldn't be any higher. Right now we have 25 states in the country where a lot of these laws are going to get tested. That's one of the reasons why today we announced that we are going to take this case all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court — because we have to win not only to protect women's sports, but to protect women's privacy, to protect safe spaces, to have just a sense of basic fairness and decency. And so that people once again know, it's not up to debate, there are significant differences between men and women and it is right for legislatures to separate sports and other functions on the basis of biology.
SMITH: Riley, are you optimistic?
GAINES: Of course I am. Look, I believe truth and sanity will always prevail from a worldly sense, but I'm optimistic more importantly from an internal sense because the Bible tells us the outcome — and being a Christian that's all the reassurance that I need, it's what keeps me grounded, it's what keeps a smile on my face and allows me to have an incredibly light heart. I see people like Emmy Salerno, I see people fighting like Attorney General Morrissey. People are waking up, they are understanding the severity, they're understanding the threat. They understand how the gender ideology movement, it harms, of course women's rights, but parental rights, it harms the safeguarding of children. So people are waking up. That's what we need. We need more courage to be shown, that's for sure. I think we are governed by weak-kneed, spineless, morally bankrupt cowards across academia, across corporate America — of course within our government — what have you. So we need more leaders is what we need.
SMITH: I know you guys are fighting the good fight for women and girls all over this country right now. Mr. Attorney General, Riley, thank you very much for standing up for them. Appreciate you joining us, thank you.