The annual convention for the NCAA is set for January 10 to 13 in Phoenix. Protesters who hope to save women’s sports will rally outside the convention. They will demand an end to transgender athletes competing in female sports events.
NCAA swimming champions Riley Gaines and Paula Scanlan will be among the women protesters. Scanlan was a teammate of Lia Thomas, a male swimmer who competed on the UPenn swim team. When he was unable to win as a male swimmer, he was allowed to compete on the women’s team as a transgender athlete.
Former Governor of Massachusetts, Charlie Baker, a Republican, now is president of the NCAA. Gaines criticizes him for avoiding the issue of transgenderism in women’s sports. Fox New online ran a blistering opinion piece by the Senior Director of Government Relations for Concerned Women for America.
Shame on NCAA President @CharlieBakerMA
If you want to continue to ignore female athletes, that’s fine. We’ll make it to where you can’t. See you next week 🫡 https://t.co/tu0dZ1PzUX
— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) January 8, 2024
In the glow of his announcement to succeed Mark Emmert just over a year ago, Baker was cast in a favorable light as an executive who could navigate rough waters and tough issues. His tenure as the Republican governor in liberal Massachusetts surely proved this.
Women’s organizations standing for the rights of female athletes, like Concerned Women for America, responded to the news with optimism. Baker’s appointment was a sign that a reset might be possible.
Rough waters only intensified last year as NCAA women saw institutions selling them down the river declaring males could claim their identity and make better female athletes. Lia Thomas’ domination in Division I women’s swimming, including being nominated “Woman Athlete of the Year” by the University of Pennsylvania (Penn), left a bitter taste in everyone’s mouth. For women athletes, it was betrayal.
Women’s organizations standing for the rights of female athletes, like Concerned Women for America, responded to the news with optimism. Baker’s appointment was a sign that a reset might be possible.
Rough waters only intensified last year as NCAA women saw institutions selling them down the river declaring males could claim their identity and make better female athletes. Lia Thomas’ domination in Division I women’s swimming, including being nominated “Woman Athlete of the Year” by the University of Pennsylvania (Penn), left a bitter taste in everyone’s mouth. For women athletes, it was betrayal.
Women’s sports are being eliminated. Transgender inclusion policies will be the end of women’s sports. Spots on women’s sports teams are going to men. Scholarships for women athletes are going to transgender athletes, as are endorsement deals. It is wrong that young women work and train for years to qualify for college teams only to find themselves forced to compete against men. It is unacceptable. Men who can not cut it in men’s sports cannot be allowed to sashay into women’s sports competitions and act like this is normal behavior. It is not and cannot be allowed to be normalized.
Riley Gaines calls Baker a coward for not speaking out in support of women.
However, in 2023, Riley Gaines revealed that the NCAA planned to focus on a decentralized approach, letting each sport set its own policy. She called out the NCAA for its lack of backbone and inconsistency on the part of the NCAA.
Nevertheless, the former swimmer slammed President Charlie Baker for being a weak leader unwilling to stand up for what he believed was right and just. Gaines also accused him of evading questions and providing vague answers during a judicial hearing when asked about his stance on transgender issues.
Moreover, the swimmer wrote in her X (formerly known as Twitter) handle,“It shows you how they’re cowards. It shows you how we have weak leaders. And that is how we got here, because we have people like President Charlie Baker who are unwilling to stand for what they know is right, what they know to be just, what they know to be true and fair. They would rather throw their moral compass entirely out of the window if it means they get to look virtuous and seem as if they’re doing the right thing. But in reality, they are doing just the opposite of the right thing.”
Women athletes are being traumatized by being forced to share facilities with men where they are to change clothes and shower. A young woman who has been sexually assaulted, like Paula Scanlon, should not be put in such a position.
Speaking exclusively to DailyMail.com, Scanlan said she and her allies are fighting for dignity in their chosen sports.
‘As a survivor of sexual assault, I was forced to undress in front of a man every day before getting in the pool at Penn,’ she said. ‘The NCAA sponsored this repeat trauma through its failure to recognize women’s sports. We beg the NCAA to give women our dignity back.’
Good for these young women who have lived through the experience of competing with transgender athletes speaking up against it. It’s an act of bravery, given the atmosphere in which we live. Transgenderism is usually a free pass for any policies or behavior, no matter how wrong. I applaud these young women and their supporters for trying to push back and save women’s sports.