The champion of Olympic gymnastics Simone Biles is in the lead with one of the most vocal opponents of transgender girls and women in competition in female sports, the former university swimmer Riley Gaines.
BILES – The most decorated Olympic gymnast is the story – called the former “sick” collegiate athlete and a “painful loser” in an article on X Friday evening.
“You should raise the trans community and perhaps find a way to make sport inclusive or create a new avenue where Trans feels safe in sport,” wrote Biles, 28. “Maybe a transgender category in all sports !!”
“But instead … you intimidate them,” continued Biles. “One thing is certain that no one in sport is safe with you !!!!!”
As a university swimmer, Gaines equaled to fifth place in a competition with the University of the Pennsylvania swimmer, Lia Thomas, Transgender, in 2022.
Since then, Gaines has largely built a career as an expertise in the conservative media pleading against trans women who participate in female sports, arguing that it is unfair to include them in competition and that their inclusion is sometimes dangerous for other competitors.
Gaines, 25, has also built a huge audience on social networks, with more than 1.5 million followers on X, where she jokes and regularly makes fun of transgender athletes.
Friday, Gaines published an image of a minnesota Girls High School baseball team, which includes a trans player. She seemed to taunt the player, referring to her as a boy, which seems to have aroused the response of Biles.
Gaines almost immediately responded to bile reviews in a series of messages on X.
“It’s so disappointing. My point of view is the least controversial vision of the planet,” wrote Gaines. “Simone Biles being a man-spat at the expense of the dreams of young girls? I didn’t have that on my bingo card. ”
The problems of trans girls and women who participate in female sports have become a lightning problem in the United States in recent years.
In February, President Donald Trump signed an executive decree aimed at banning transgender women and girls from participating in female sports.
Before that, at least 27 states already had laws, regulations or policies prohibiting transgender students from participating in sports in accordance with their gender identity, according to the Movement Advance Project, an LGBTQ reflection group.
This article was initially published on NBCNews.com
