Swim champ Riley Gaines ambushed, assaulted by trans activists for supporting women

San Francisco pro-trans activists protest swim champ Riley Gaines in what became a violent mob assault, after Gaines' speech supporting women at SFSU (video screenshot)

This story was updated; Warning: offensive language in video

A pro-trans mob at San Francisco State University assaulted former All-American  collegiate champion swimmer Riley Gaines Thursday – reportedly holding her "hostage" for three hours – to protest her speech about "saving women's sports" from biological men identifying as "trans women" being allowed to compete with real females.

Fox News reports that Riley's husband, Louis Barker, "had brief [phone] conversations with her while she was barricaded in the room for nearly three hours." He said, "She told me she was hit multiple times by a guy in a dress. I was shaking. It made me that mad. It makes me sick to feel so helpless about it. ... She was under police protection and was still hit by a man wearing a dress."

The counter-protest was "organized by SFSU's Queer and Trans Resource Center," according to a statement provided by the speech's co-organizers, Turning Point USA, a popular college and youth group for conservatives.

TRENDING: Will it be the Obama woman replacing Biden on ballot?

Meanwhile, the Biden administration has proposed new Title IX regulations on girls school sports that would prohibit government-funded schools from issuing blanket bans against "transgender" athletes, angering conservatives and women's advocates. But because the rule allows exceptions, it also has incurred the wrath of pro-trans leftists like New York Congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).

Biden spokeswoman: trans kids 'fight back'

Moreover, the harrowing mob "protest" against Gaines occurred the same day that White House spokeswoman and open lesbian Karine Jean-Pierre issued a scathing response to the news that Indiana had become the 14th state to ban "trans" gender hormone treatments and "surgeries" for minors.

"This is a dangerous – a dangerous attack on the rights of parents to make the best healthcare decisions for their own kids," KJP said, "Look, this is awful news. Let's be very clear about that. LGBTQI+ kids are resilient; they are fierce. They fight back. They're not going anywhere. And we have their back. This administration has their back. We are so proud of the kids across this country who have organized protests and school walkouts to tell the politicians in their states to stop this legislative bullying."

This led Independent Women's Voice, the sister organization to Independent Women's Forum, which employs Gaines as spokeswoman, to tweet: "ENABLING VIOLENT RHETORIC: The White House & @PressSec [Jean-Pierre]’s comments surrounding trans activism & calls to ‘fight back’ are directly related to the violence biological women like @Riley_Gaines_
& others are experiencing when they speak up & tell the TRUTH."

⚠️ENABLING VIOLENT RHETORIC: The White House & @PressSec’s comments surrounding trans activism & calls to ‘fight back’ are directly related to the violence biological women like @Riley_Gaines_ & others are experiencing when they speak up & tell the TRUTH.🗣pic.twitter.com/AlEzEf4bAV

— Independent Women's Voice (@IWV) April 7, 2023

Will violent and abusive students be punished?

Fox News, in a follow-up story Friday, reported that Gaines' agent, Eli Bremer, is calling on the San Francisco university to expel "any students who were violent," and fire any staff member "who did not attempt to end the assault."

"Riley Gaines, the leading defender of women's rights in America, was physically assaulted last night at San Francisco State University. ... The violent mob effectively held her hostage for three hours with no apparent action by the university to end the assault," Bremer said in the statement to Fox. Gaines is a "recent graduate from the University of Kentucky, where she was a 12x All-American swimmer, says her bio at Independent Women's Forum, where she is a spokeswoman.

Gaines herself tweeted out a video of a portion of the angry protest, at 1:13 a.m., in the early morning after the incident, with the words: "The prisoners are running the asylum at SFSU. ...I was ambushed and physically hit twice by a man. This is proof that women need sex-protected spaces. Still only further assures me I'm doing something right. When they want you silent, speak louder."

The prisoners are running the asylum at SFSU...I was ambushed and physically hit twice by a man. This is proof that women need sex-protected spaces.

Still only further assures me I'm doing something right. When they want you silent, speak louder. 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/uJW3x9RERf

— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) April 7, 2023

Gaines' short video had 3.3 million views at press time. Andy Ngo, the leading social media chronicler of leftist violence, retweeted her video and commented: "Female athlete @Riley_Gaines_ was attacked by a baying mob of militant #trans activists at @SFSU during a student speaking event. Trans extremists believe the conspiracy [that] they are victims of a genocide so they feel justified to attack or kill people."

Steve Millow, founder of JunkScience.com, retweeted Ngo's tweet with the message: "Kudos to @Riley_Gaines_ for having the courage to speak-up for actual women. Shame on anyone who tolerates this sort of psychopathic left-wing thuggery."

https://twitter.com/JunkScience/status/1644449231069929473

Leftist radicals 'rushed in' after event ended

A TPUSA spokesman told Fox News that the rowdy protesters outside the room "rushed in when the event was over."

In Gaines' video, apparently shot by Gaines herself, she and her police escorts are seen moving out of a classroom quickly, as a protester can be heard mocking them: "Why are you running?"

Then a woman is first heard screaming, "Trans rights are a human rights" like a mantra, as the camera goes dark. Then the lighted video returns and shows that same fanatical protester shoving her phone-camera in the face of Gaines as she keeps screaming, even more hysterically and at the top of her lungs, "Trans rights are human rights! Trans rights are human rights!"

WND is now on Trump's Truth Social! Follow us @WNDNews

The trans activist, finally seen on camera, filming Gaines as she yells at her: "Yeah, you [f**kin'] transphobic [bi*ch], I [f**kin'] see you! Trans rights are human rights! Trans rights are human rights!"

As Gaines and her police escorts walk down the hall, a crowd awaits them chanting, "Trans women are women! Trans women are women!"

Fox reports that the University Police Department (UPD) at SFSU issued the following statement to the news organization Friday morning: "We are conducting an ongoing investigation into the situation. There were no arrests related to the event. The disruption occurred after the conclusion of the event which made it necessary for UPD officers to move the event speaker from the room to a different, safe location."

Footage shared to social media by Golden Gate Xpress, the school's student-run newspaper, showed a small protest emerge ahead of Gaines' arrival at the school Thursday evening.

Advertisement - story continues below

Other pieces of footage from the outlet showed the protest growing in size – eventually becoming so chaotic that Gaines was escorted out of the room and down a hallway by police and barricaded in a separate room.

While she was being moved to a safer location, protesters were captured on video chanting various phrases along the lines of "go the f--k home" and "trans women are women" while placing transgender flags on the school's walls.

The outlet also shared images showing some members of the TPUSA staff being held up and escorted out of the venue amid the protests. Chris Trudell, the assistant dean of students, was reportedly seen trying to deescalate the situation.

TPUSA, which sponsored the SFSU event with another conservative campus group, Leadership Institute, tweeted Friday: "After speaking with eyewitnesses, TPUSA is confident that [Riley Gaines] was criminally assaulted last night. Ironically, she was attacked by a man in women's clothes while speaking out in defense of women. TPUSA is working to identify and hold accountable those responsible."

After speaking with eyewitnesses, TPUSA is confident that @Riley_Gaines_ was criminally assaulted last night.

Ironically, she was attacked by a man in women's clothes while speaking out in defense of women.

TPUSA is working to identify and hold accountable those responsible.

— Turning Point USA (@TPUSA) April 7, 2023

A follow-up TPUSA tweet said: 'If you have any tips or eyewitness accounts that could help identify those individuals who attacked Riley Gaines at SFSU, please send us a DM [direct message]."

TPUSA founder and chairman Charlie Kirk himself no stranger to leftist radicals' intimidating tactics, tweeted, "Help us identify the thugs that assaulted Riley Gaines last night at our TPUSA 'Save Women's Sports' event at SFSU. Enough is enough."

Gaines: I won't be bullied

In an exclusive essay for the U.K. Daily Mail, Gaines describes the SFSU mob protest and how it failed to intimidate or silence her.

She says regarding male competitor-turned-"trans woman" swimmer "Lia" Thomas: "Will Thomas was a mediocre male athlete. But in 2021, after coming out as 'transgender,' Lia Thomas started dominating female competition. In the female category, Thomas defeated Olympians, American record holders, and some of the most impressive women in the sport. ... Of course, I knew this was wrong. But it wasn't until I competed against Thomas myself that I fully understood the depths of this injustice."

After she tied with Thomas in a freestyle competition and an NCAA official chose to give the winner's trophy to the man towering above her, explaining that he did so for "picture purposes," Gaines writes, "That's when I realized that the NCAA no longer valued everything that I, my teammates and every other girl swimming that day had worked their entire lives to achieve. The goal was no longer excellence in women's sport. The goal was virtue signaling on the backs of women."

Gaines said she realized she had to speak out, and ultimately became a spokeswoman for IWF.

Cut to Thursday's "Saving Women's Sports" rally at SFSU. Gaines writes:

Unfortunately, it seems that the people pushing for trans-inclusion in the female sporting category are more interested in silencing and threatening their opponents than in engaging in dialogue. These radical activists would rather bully their way into women's locker rooms and women's competitions than look for a way to create equal opportunities for all. So much for good sportsmanship.

I am not afraid to confront bullies. But when I arrived at San Francisco State University, I expected that campus police would be there to ensure my safety. They were nowhere to be found.

Nevertheless, the organizers of the speech and I walked to the room, and I proceeded to give my speech to a packed house of supporters, protesters, and the merely curious. The entire time that I was speaking, I could hear chanting from outside the window and from the hallway: 'Trans women are women', 'Trans liberation' and 'It's time to fight back.

Advertisement - story continues below

Inside the room I was heckled, interrupted, and insulted. But while this was disappointing, the protesters were basically peaceful – that is, until the moment my speech ended.

After Gaines finished her speech, she says, "a group from outside the room swarmed in, turned off the lights, and pushed toward me at the front of the room. I was backed up against the podium. I was cornered and increasingly nervous."

"A man wearing women's clothing intentionally hit me – twice. The first blow landed on my shoulder. The second one glanced off my shoulder and hit me in the face," she writes. "Another woman with my group was also attacked. I later saw a picture of a girl grabbing her by the face."

At that point she was grabbed by an undercover cop, who started to escort her out of the room (where Gaines' Twitter video begins).

"Because when the mob tries to silence you, the best response is to speak louder," she writes, and continues:

Eventually, I was pulled and pushed out the door and into the hallway – where I was cornered again. A woman stood in front of me – shouting in my face. Both sides of the hallway were blocked, there was no clear exit. We had nowhere to go. The police appeared terrified.

Uniformed campus police officers shuffled me off to a side hall and office entrance, which was initially locked, as the mob swarmed around us. It was in that office where I waited with campus security for the next three hours as the mob raged outside.

As the hours ticked by I turned to a campus officer and told him that I was missing a flight home to Tennessee and wanted to leave. He looked at me and said, 'Well, don't you think we all want to go home?'

Advertisement - story continues below

I have incredible respect for law enforcement, but these officers seemed scared. I got the impression that they were afraid to challenge these ambushers for fear of what may happen to them.

Protesters yelled at black policemen, "Why are you protecting a white woman?" It wasn't until 11:30 p.m. when San Francisco P.D. arrived, she writes: "They formed a cordon around me, and we left the building, breaking into a run as the mob chased me into a waiting car."

Incredibly, none of this has deterred Gaines, who concludes her essay:

By 2:00 am, I was back in my hotel. Shaken and exhausted, but not deterred. Because for all the rage and intimidation, that mob failed. They did not silence me, and they will not silence me. Their behavior did not diminish my arguments. On the contrary, it proved that they are misogynists fueled by hate.

Advertisement - story continues below

And I won't let them stop me from fighting on.

The truth is: this extreme movement doesn't want equal rights. They want to deny women rights – our right to compete, our right to privacy, and our right to speak out.

I'm hoping that what happened to me in San Francisco will encourage more parents, athletes, coaches, and others to open their eyes and their mouths.

Because when the mob tries to silence you, the best response is to speak louder.

Talk show host Clay Travis went on Fox News to discuss the mob protest against Gaines, whom he called a "hero." Travis discussed the Biden administration's proposed Title IX rule, which he said would lead to schools bending to Biden's "transgender nondiscrimination" out of fear being punished for protecting actual female athletes from being forced to compete with males:

I went on @FoxNews to talk about the violent mob attacking @Riley_Gaines_ for saying men shouldn’t compete against women. It’s time for everyone in sports to take a stand, you either believe men should be banned from women’s athletics or you don’t. Watch: pic.twitter.com/d7QBhYe5BV

— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) April 7, 2023

EDITOR'S NOTE: Question: Why do the political and corporate leaders of America – long the freest, most successful, most prosperous and most Christian nation in history – bow and scrape before China, a ruthless, communist, totalitarian and explicitly atheistic dictatorship openly committed to ruling the world, including America?

The astonishing answers come into focus only when one contemplates both the unprecedented level of political and financial corruption in America's ruling class (multiple Biden family members received $31 million in payola from China), and simultaneously the communist Chinese government's brilliantly devious methods of unconventional total warfare, by which China is stealthily infiltrating, subverting, corrupting and colonizing the United States of America.

The China threat has rarely been more dramatically or pointedly documented than in the sensational March issue of WND's critically acclaimed monthly Whistleblower magazine, titled "HOW CHINA IS CONQUERING AMERICA." Whistleblower is available in both the popular print edition and a state-of-the-art digital version, either single issues or discounted annual subscriptions.