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Riley Gaines has won: UPenn bans men in women’s sports, vacates titles of ‘Lia’ Thomas


(LifeSiteNews) — Riley Gaines, the American swimmer and women’s rights activist, has won. 

In response to a federal civil rights investigation, the University of Pennsylvania has announced that they will now bar trans-identifying men from competing in women’s sports and will apologize for previously permitting men to compete against women. To further right previous wrongs, the Ivy League institution will correct its records from the 2021-22 season to restore titles to female athletes that were “misappropriated by male athletes. The records will now “indicate who would hold the records under current eligibility guidelines.” 

READ: Woman wins settlement after YMCA banned her for complaining about man in girls’ locker room 

Gaines embarked on an incredibly successful swimming career at the University of Kentucky, becoming a 12-time NCAA All-American swimmer. Her rise to national fame, however, came when she tied for fifth place in the 200-yard freestyle at the NCAA Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships with William “Lia” Thomas in March of 2022. 

Thomas, a trans-identifying male, had previously placed 462nd in the male swimming category. NCAA officials insisted that Thomas be given the trophy, and photos of the strapping young man holding the trophy while standing next to Gaines went viral. 

Gaines spoke out about her treatment – and that of other female athletes – at the hands of the NCAA, also describing how uncomfortable it was for many female swimmers to be forced to change in the same locker room as Thomas, who was in full possession of his male genitalia. She retired from competitive swimming later that year, and began lobbying for the exclusion of males from female sports and private space. She was triumphantly present, with many other girls and young women, when Donald Trump signed an executive order banning males from female sports in February. 

LGBT activists are livid at the University of Pennsylvania’s decision to strip Thomas of his ill-gotten titles; Thomas recently failed in a legal bid to compete in women’s sports that was rejected by the Court for Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland after World Aquatics banned trans-identifying males who have gone through male puberty from competing. The Human Rights Campaign, the largest and most powerful LGBT lobbying group in America, condemned UPenn’s move, accusing the Trump administration of being “obsessed with making young people’s lives harder and scapegoating transgender people so they can attack independent institutions.” 

The Trump administration certainly deserves the credit for UPenn’s decision – in order to ensure compliance with the “biology-based definitions” of male and female detailed in Trump’s executive orders, the administration paused $175 million in federal funding to the university over its transgender athlete policies. In its decision, UPenn also emphasized that trans-identifying males would no longer be permitted to use female facilities. 

Former sportscaster Keith Olbermann took the opportunity to take a bitter shot at Gaines. “Wanted to congratulate Whiny Gaines on now being able to say she finished tied for FOURTH not tied for FIFTH in the Lia Thomas race,” he posted on X.  

READ: Senate version of ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ defunds abortion for only 1 year, axes ban on ‘sex change’ funding 

“Thank you!” Gaines cheerily replied. “And while you’re keeping track, make sure to congratulate Emma Weyant, the right National Champ in the 500 freestyle, too. (If you’re insinuating 5th in the nation is bad, what do you call a man who ranks 462nd nationally in the men’s category?)” Emma Weyant was the rightful winner of the title that went to Thomas. Olbermann had no response.  

In a mere three years, Riley Gaines has emerged victorious over virtually all of the institutions that denied her and her fellow athletes the privacy, dignity, and awards that they were entitled to. State after state has passed laws banning trans-identifying males from female sports; the Trump administration has taken up the cause; the Riley Gaines Act passed Georgia in April. Now, the injustice and humiliation that started it all has been rectified, too.  


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Jonathon’s writings have been translated into more than six languages and in addition to LifeSiteNews, has been published in the National Post, National Review, First Things, The Federalist, The American Conservative, The Stream, the Jewish Independent, the Hamilton Spectator, Reformed Perspective Magazine, and LifeNews, among others. He is a contributing editor to The European Conservative.

His insights have been featured on CTV, Global News, and the CBC, as well as over twenty radio stations. He regularly speaks on a variety of social issues at universities, high schools, churches, and other functions in Canada, the United States, and Europe.

He is the author of The Culture War, Seeing is Believing: Why Our Culture Must Face the Victims of Abortion, Patriots: The Untold Story of Ireland’s Pro-Life Movement, Prairie Lion: The Life and Times of Ted Byfield, and co-author of A Guide to Discussing Assisted Suicide with Blaise Alleyne.

Jonathon serves as the communications director for the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform.


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