"Pulling up the ladder behind her"-Riley Gaines reacts to Megan Rapinoe advocating for transgender participation in women's sports

Riley Gaines has lashed out at the former American soccer player Megan Rapinoe over advocating for transgender participation in women's sports ahead of the NCAA Board of Governors meeting on Thursday.

The meeting will discuss the issue of transgender women, or biological men, competing in women's college sports. The Board of Governors is also expected to vote on the issue of whether to allow it or not.

While Riley Gaines has been a strong critic of transgender involvement in women's sports, the former USWNT star has expressed different opinions. Rapinoe along with several other athletes has claimed that the NCAA would be on the wrong side of history if it bans transgender women from participation in college sports.

In a statement of her own, Megan Rapinoe expressed:

"The time is now for the NCAA and the nationwide athletic community to speak up and affirm that sports should be for everyone, including transgender athletes".

Riley Gaines didn't agree a bit with the 38-year-old and said that she was preventing other female athletes from having the same opportunities she had during her soccer career. The former Kentucky swimmer also claimed that Rapinoe would have been an unknown face had it not been for women's sports.

"Megan Rapinoe, in typical virtue-signaling fashion, is pulling up the ladder behind her. No one would know who Megan Rapinoe is it weren't for women's sports lol", Riley Gaines said in a statement on X.

Rapinoe revealed in 2023 that she would welcome a transgender athlete to USWNT. She even claimed that anyone who disagreed with her was ‘transphobic’.

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The issue of whether transgender athletes should participate in women's sports sprew up in 2022 when Riley Gaines squared off with Lia Thomas, a biological male, at the NCAA Swimming Championships. While both the swimmers finished in equal time, it was the latter who was awarded the 5th position.

Gaines has been ever since advocating against transgender athletes’ participation in women's sports, and as the NCAA heads for discussions on the issue on Thursday, the 24-year-old called on fellow athletes to send their suggestions on the issue to the Board of Governors.

Gaines uploaded a video on her Instagram story, and urged athletes, women in particular, to press the NCAA to ban transgender athletes from participating in college sports.

"The NCAA needs to be inundated by emails coming from girls and women or parents who would specifically be impacted or have been impacted by this movement at the hands of the NCAA," she said.