Former NCAA women’s swimmer Riley Gaines had a simple message for New Hampshire Republicans on Saturday: “XX is not XY.”
Her commentary on chromosomes and biology came in response to a question from NHJournal regarding the ongoing controversy in Olympic women’s boxing where two of the medals are guaranteed to go to fighters who, according to published reports, are genetically male.
Gaines, who has become a national advocate for keeping biological males out of women’s sports and private spaces (locker rooms, bathrooms and prisons), spoke to a New Hampshire Federation of Republican Women gathering in Atkinson on Saturday. It’s yet another sign the Granite State GOP plans to keep the issue front and center in the November elections.
Former state Senator Chuck Morse hosts a roundtable with Riley Gaines on protecting women’s sports and private spaces in Atkinson, N.H. on August 3, 2024.
Gaines became nationally known when she publicly spoke out against being forced to compete in NCAA women’s swimming against a biological male, Lia Thomas. In testimony before Congress, she described how “the NCAA forced me and my female swimmers to swim, to share a locker room with Thomas, a 6’2″, 22-year-old male, equipped with and exposing male genitalia.”
She is also author of the book “Swimming Against the Current: Fighting for Common Sense in a World That’s Lost Its Mind.” Before the NHFRW event, she participated in a roundtable hosted by GOP gubernatorial candidate Chuck Morse, and she told attendees, “I predicted in my book that we would get to an Olympic Games where there’s a male boxing against the women.
“And what did we see? We just saw a male getting in the ring fighting a woman, punching her in the face with the intent of knocking her unconscious. And now he’s guaranteed an Olympic medal. It’s predictable. People will say, ‘So, how did we get here?’ They scratch their heads. We can’t be surprised anymore. It’s a choice to have your eyes open, and my eyes certainly are,” Gaines said.
Gaines was speaking of the women’s boxing match between Italian Angela Carini and Algerian Imane Khelif in which Carini withdrew after just 46 seconds, having suffered two major blows to the face. While Khelif lives as a woman and is identified as a woman on a passport, the boxer previously failed a gender eligibility test administered by the International Boxing Association (IBA). Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan failed the same test. Both boxers declined to appeal the results. Both are fighting in the Olympics as women boxers.
Algerian boxer Imane Khelif
Over the weekend, István Kovács, the European Vice President of the World Boxing Organization and former Secretary General of the International Boxing Association told reporters that “the gender test clearly revealed that the Algerian boxer is biologically male.”
And, Gaines pointed out, “In the 2016 Rio Olympics, the top three finishers in the women’s 800 meters [track] all had a Y chromosome. It’s a biological advantage.”
Most of the roundtable, however, was dedicated to discussing legislation, including the bills signed — and vetoed — by Gov. Chris Sununu dealing with those topics. Last month Sununu signed a bill banning biological males from girls sports in grades 5-12, and he also signed legislation banning permanent sex-change operations and other medical procedures for minor children.
However, he vetoed a bill (HB 396) that would have clearly stated schools, sports facilities, prisons and other places with women’s only spaces for the purposes of privacy would have the lawful ability to exclude biological males.
Gaines called Sununu out.
“The governor says, ‘I want to err on the side of compassion in vetoing HB 396.’ Really? Well, is it compassionate to ask a young girl to undress in front of a man? Is that what compassion is? I don’t think so,” Gaines said.
Morse said if he is elected governor, “when that piece of legislation comes to my desk, I’m going to sign it.”
“I strongly believe a man’s a man and a woman’s a woman,” Morse told NHJournal. “I have a daughter who played sports. I can’t imagine allowing boys in my daughter’s locker room or my daughter’s bathroom. I can’t imagine a father or a mother with that attitude. I think we need leadership, and think this is common sense.”
Morse has also frequently claimed his GOP primary opponent, former U.S. Senator Kelly Ayotte, is silent on whether she would sign HB396 if she were governor, a point he made during his remarks to the NHFRW Saturday night.
“The silence from my opponent on this issue has been deafening,” Morse said.
The Ayotte campaign fired back.
“I’m not sure how Phony Chuck says any of his BS with a straight face. At this point, all Phony Chuck does is lie. Kelly Ayotte has been consistent in protecting women’s rights to fairness, safety, and privacy — especially when it comes to the conversation around women’s sports,” said campaign spokesman John Corbett. “With Gov. Ayotte, women will have a champion in the Corner Office.”
Meanwhile, New Hampshire Democrats continue to double down on their opposition to banning biological males from girls sports and support for sex change surgery for minor children. On Sunday, the New Hampshire House Democrats emailed a fundraising message, attacking these laws as “extreme anti-trans bills.”
And Democratic Party state chair Ray Buckley took to social media to attack NHJournal for reporting on the Olympic boxing controversy, one of many social media messages from the party chair over the weekend reminding Granite States of his party’s position.
With polls showing Granite Staters overwhelmingly disagree with the Democratic Party, and the trend among American voters swiftly moving away from their position, it’s an interesting political tactic.
Gaines told those gathered Saturday night she believed supporters of protecting women’s sports and spaces will prevail. As for the veto of HB396 by a Republican governor:
“It just means there’s more work to be done.”
