Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines: Many of Lia Thomas' teammates thanked me for speaking out

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Sen. Rand Paul teams up with University of Kentucky swimmer to advocate for women's sports

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines joined 'Fox & Friends' to discuss the fight for fairness in women's sports. 

University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines teamed up with Sen, Rand Paul, R-Ky., to advocate for fairness in women's sports ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, and she said she is even being thanked by Lia Thomas' teammates for doing so. 

The duo joined "Fox & Friends" Wednesday to discuss the controversy surrounding biological males being allowed to compete in female sports.

"I actually had a ton of Lia Thomas' teammates reach out to me personally, and thank me for what I'm doing because this is something they deal with every single day," Gaines told co-host Brian Kilmeade. "But of course, they're intimidated, they're threatened, they're emotionally blackmailed."

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Gaines said she has many examples of Ivy League schools taking action to prevent their female swimmers from speaking out.

"One of those examples being an email sent to the Ivy League swimmer saying that if you feel uncomfortable changing in an area where you will see male genitalia, here are some resources, and you should seek counseling."

Gaines and Paul teamed up in a new campaign ad to highlight what is at stake in women's sports, with the senator saying he is "not afraid to fight" to protect women's sports as he faces reelection in November. 

University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas enters for the 200 Freestyle final during the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships on March 18th, 2022 at the McAuley Aquatic Center in Atlanta Georgia.   (Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

But Paul thinks more women stand with them on the issue, agreeing that only biological women should be competing in women's sports.

"I think there's actually sort of a silent growing number of women who are moderate or independent or even liberal, that have daughters who compete in soccer and swimming and all these different sports who are like, this just isn't fair," Paul said. "This is a fairness issue."

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"My wife always says, where are the feminists on this issue? And there are some, but they're few and far between because the liberal media runs over you and says you're a hater," he continued. "And this isn't about hate, this is about fairness."

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A recent poll indicates a majority of Americans oppose transgender athletes competing against women because of a "competitive edge" they have over their biological female competitors. 

Amid those findings, Gaines said she has not received as much scrutiny over her stance as the media has portrayed. 

"I haven't gotten as much blowback as you would think, as the media wants you to believe," Gaines said. "The support I've received is tenfold to anything negative."