East Central Reporter

U.S. Rep. Mary Miller (R-IL) is supporting women athletes who have been forced to compete against trans men. 

Miller held a press conference with former college swimmer Riley Gaines who has been one of the most vocal opponents of opening women’s sports to larger, faster trans athletes who were born male. She is committed not to “stop fighting in Congress to protect and defend our children, especially our daughters, from this radical, ‘woke’ ideology.” 

“This week, I joined Riley Gaines in a press conference to celebrate the 51st anniversary of Title IX and commemorate this week as National Women's Sports Week,” Miller said on Facebook. “As a mother of five daughters, I am horrified by the left-wing extremists who are forcing men into girls' locker rooms and ignoring our daughters' requests for privacy and safety. On his first day in office, President Biden signed an Executive Order to destroy Title IX and force young girls to share locker rooms with biological men. This is such a betrayal from the liberals who claim to support ‘women's rights.’” 

Gaines posted in celebration of Title IX on Twitter. She also advocated "all see the value in upholding the original intent of Title IX" which she underscored was intended to protect athletes and used the hashtag 'SaveWomensSports.'" 

“51 years of Title IX!" Gaines said on Twitter. "Without Title IX, I never would have become the SEC record holder in the 200 butterfly making me one of the fastest Americans of all time. I never would have become a 12x All-American. I never would have been named the SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year or the SEC Community Service Leader of the Year. These are accomplishments I will forever be proud of! 

According to the New York Post, during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Gaines testified about the discomfort some female swimmers experienced while sharing a locker room with transgender swimmer Lia Thomas. Gaines stated that some swimmers felt violated and uncomfortable, to the extent that they changed in a janitor's closet during a tournament to avoid being in the presence of Thomas. She emphasized that her intention is not to ban transgender athletes but to ensure fair and safe competition. Gaines also corrected Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson, who she noted made an inaccurate statement about how competitive women are in sports against men. Robinson said male athletes did not stand a chance against tennis legend Serena Williams. However, Gaines highlighted both Serena and Venus Williams had lost to the 203rd-ranked male tennis player in a 1998 match.

As she discussed the distressing experience of having to share a locker room with Thomas, Gaines became visibly emotional. 

"Actually the rationale behind the arrangement, I walked out of the locker room and I asked one of the officials on the pool deck. I said, what are the guidelines that allowed this man into our locker room? And so nonchalantly he said back, ‘Oh, well, we actually got around this by making locker rooms unisex,’" Gaines said at the hearing, Fox News reported. "So I'm thinking to myself in these moments of him saying this, first and foremost, he just admitted this is a man by acknowledging how he had to change the rules to allow him into our locker rooms and secondly, unisex? So any man could have walked into that locker room, any coach, any official, any parent, any pervert who wanted to walk into the locker room would have had full access to – and bare minimum, we weren't even told this was the arrangement, that that is what they were doing. That is how they were trying to normalize the situation and make us feel guilty when we felt uncomfortable.”