Riley Gaines rips Georgia Tech president in remarks to lawmakers: 'Why didn’t you protect me?'
Gaines to appear before Georgia General Assembly’s Special Committee on Protecting Women’s Sports
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}
Riley Gaines is set to speak Tuesday morning at the Georgia General Assembly’s Special Committee on Protecting Women’s Sports, more than two years after she tied transgender swimmer Lia Thomas in the NCAA Championships held at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Gaines is expected to address Georgia Tech President Angel Cabrera. In prepared remarks obtained by Fox News Digital, Gaines questions why Cabrera didn’t protect Gaines or any of the other female swimmers who took part in the championships.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}
Transgender athlete Lia Thomas is shown after winning the women's 500-yard freestyle during the NCAA Division I Women's Swimming and Diving Championships at the McAuley Aquatic Center on the Georgia Tech campus in Atlanta on March 17, 2022. (Mike Comer/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)
"Dr. Cabrera, you knew that a 6’4" fully intact man was coming to compete against me, my teammates, and my competitors in the 2022 NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming & Diving National Championships," Gaines’ remarks read. "Do you have a daughter? You could have stopped it, you could have at least said, ‘not here, not on the campus of Georgia Tech University,’ but you did not. You had the chance at the outset to bring a sane, rational, science-based, perspective to the protection of women’s sport, but you looked the other way, and you did nothing. Why didn’t you intervene?
"The scientific evidence for immense male performance advantages in sport is overwhelming- I don't have to explain that to you or this committee, but you ignored the science to the harm of women.
WOMEN'S SOCCER CLUB THAT FEATURES SEVERAL TRANSGENDER PLAYERS WINS LEAGUE TITLE, FINISHES UNDEFEATED
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}
Riley Gaines signs copies of her book outside Fiserv Forum during the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on July 17, 2024. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images)
"Your Georgia Tech University officials knew a naked adult man with full male genitalia was being authorized by Georgia Tech University to share a locker room with hundreds of college coeds who would themselves be naked, unable to hide, unable to protect our privacy. This was intentional, premeditated, sexual harassment, and it happened right here, in the capitol city of the State of Georgia, just a few blocks away the grounds of Georgia Tech University.
"Because you did nothing, that man walked into the women’s locker room at your university and saw me undressed down to nothing. I did not even know he had access to the women’s locker room until I heard a man’s voice and turned around and saw him a few feet in front of me, and I was unclothed. You allowed college women to be traumatized on your campus in this way. Why didn’t you protect me? Why didn’t you protect us?"
Cabrera apparently declined to testify before the committee, and Gaines called on him to redeem himself.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}
Lia Thomas, left, and Riley Gaines are shown after finishing tied for fifth in the 200 freestyle finals at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships at the McAuley Aquatic Center in Atlanta on March 18, 2022. (Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
"Dr. Cabrera, if you want to redeem the past and protect women in college sports today, you can take a momentous step towards a more just future for women and for humanity," she added. "Thousands of women across this country and hundreds of girls who dream of swimming for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and more broadly who dream of competing in sports at all look forward to your response."
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Read Riley Gaines’ full remarks below.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}