"Thank you to Riley Gaines"- Middle school girl expresses gratitude towards the former NCAA swimmer for her support while opposing transgender athlete

Emmy Salerno, a middle school girl, recently expressed gratitude towards Riley Gaines for backing her while opposing a transgender athlete from competing in the women's category.

Salerno along with four other girls, refused to compete against a transgender athlete in a throwing event held in West Virginia. Moreover, on Wednesday, April 24, she associated with Gaines and West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey while he signed "The Stand With Women Commitment."

During her speech, the middle school girl revealed her reasons for taking a stand on the matter only after conveying her appreciation and gratitude towards Gaines, who has been an ardent dissenter of transgender athletes competing against women.

"I want to say thank you first … to God for giving us the strength to do this," said Salerno. "Thank you to Riley. She's been a huge inspiration and mentor through all of this. About two years ago, the transgender movement started becoming more and more popular."

"I was never affected by it until last year. I started to think, 'this can't be right.' All my teammates are working so hard to get beat by this boy… This made me feel like I had to do something not just for myself, but for girls everywhere," she added.

Further, taking up the stage, Gaines backed the middle school girl while praising her for taking up the courageous stance.

"The argument we hear all the time is that the stance that we are taking is ‘anti-trans,’" Gaines said. "How in the world could you hear Emmy … and call her ‘anti-trans’? This is not a matter of being hateful. This is a matter of being pro-fairness. This is a matter of being pro-reality, pro-common sense, pro-safety, and pro-transparency. It is a matter of being pro-woman. And Emmy embodies that. All of these girls embody that perfectly."

"For simply saying men and women are different" - Riley Gaines offers her heartfelt gratitude towards fans after reaching one million followers

Riley Gaines expresses her gratitude towards her fans.

Riley Gaines recently expressed her gratitude towards her fans after reaching one million followers on her X account.

The former NCAA swimmer has been a steadfast supporter of women's safety in sports and has unyieldingly voiced her dissent on the notion of transgender athletes competing against women since the 2022 NCAA Swimming Championships incident, where she tied with Lia Thomas, a transgender athlete, in the 200y freestyle event but was refrained from receiving the trophy.

She took to X to offer her thanks to the fans for showing support by drafting a heartfelt message with a touch of humor.

"I can't believe I've reached 1 MILLION followers on X for simply saying men and women are different lol," Gaines wrote. "Thank you all for the support & encouragement. It means more than you could ever know. The job isn't done yet...onward!"

In her journey as an advocate, Riley Gaines has endured abuse and mistreatment on various occasions.