Calling out Riley Gaines and transphobes

[EnergizedLib]

So, the most famous (or is it infamous?) fifth-place finisher of all time is freaking out over Marissa Rothenberger helping out her team a Minnesota high school softball team to a state championship as a trans women.

So, let’s break this down.

Seeing that Riley Gaines tied for fifth with this trans woman, if Lia Thomas was so superior as a ‘man,’ why did Lia Thomas only tie for fifth? If she’s a man and she is what transphobes are claiming, why didn’t she go prime Katie Ledecky on everyone in the pool?

As someone who’s covered high school sports for a living since 2017 and in Indiana since 2019, I’ve been around long enough to see the IHSAA officially sanction girls wrestling as a sport, because at one time, it wasn’t, though girls could still compete both in IHSAA and non-IHSAA events.

I did multiple stories on a girls wrestler from one of the schools I covered. She won a state championship at an event that was put on by another organization *and* she could still wrestle against boys since girls wrestling wasn’t sanctioned at the time. She would often either beat the boys or prove to be a tough out for them.

Also, before Shohei Ohtani, before Mike Trout, I’m old enough to remember when the best baseball player in the world was Albert Pujols. And I’m old enough to remember this clip when a prime Pujols struck out once when competing against Jennie Finch. Again, she didn’t strike out 40-something Pujols, she struck out prime Pujols.

https://m.

Use Google, and different results show, including one that says it’s scientifically proven that hitting a softball is harder than hitting a baseball.

Another thing, Stephen Curry is still going strong and is still very much a threat as a 3-point shooter. He competed against a much younger Sabrina Ionescu in a 3-point shooting contest during NBA All
Star Weekend in 2024. And Curry won - 29-26, which isn’t the most convincing win by the greatest shooter of all time who’s still going pretty strong at 36/37 years old.

And how many cis men could beat a girl/woman athlete in a given sport, assuming both were trying their best? I don’t think I could.

Simone Biles retired due to mental health issues in Tokyo, came back a few years older and won multiple golds at Paris.

If she wasn’t a whiny little Karen, nobody would know the name Riley Gaines.

[marble falls]

2. It's the "winning isnt the most important thing, it's the only thing" attitude mostly fostered by parants that ruins ...

... amateur/no-professional sports for me. This trans thing is just another example of it. Why do they feel threatened by less than 1% of the population - who's biggest desire is to fit in?

Kids learn bias and privilege from adults.

[AllaN01Bear]

5. this ,the parents need to be reminded of this

The important thing in the Olympic Games is not winning but taking part, just as in life, what counts is not the victory but the struggle.

[AllaN01Bear]

3. what is cis?

well wha as a friend would say.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

4. not trans

[AllaN01Bear]

6. thanks

[gulliver]

7. Your post slurs 67% of Democrats as "transphobes"

In a poll (NYT/IPSOS), 67% of Dems say "transgender female athletes...should not be allowed to compete in women's sports."

I didn't report the post. I'm content to have it remain.

[k_buddy762]

8. More than two thirds!

Wow. I had no idea the number was that high.

[haele]

10. It's because most people don't understand what Trans is.

They think of it as Drag or Panto (like Dame Edna). Or that they're trying to pass as homosexual relationship "beards" - that a Trans woman is just a Femm Gay in Drag, and a Trans man is just a Butch Lesbian pretending to pass as a man. That's the basis of TERFs - they can't conceive that someone might not mentally and emotionally be able to live with their "birth sex" as written down in binary. That some people aren't physically born as one side of a binary category, even though they (TERFs) might accept a non-binary emotional view when it comes to relationships.
So add in their fears of closeted sexual deviance - and someone who is Trans automatically becomes questionably suspect - why are the Trans folks "pushing" to be special? Why can't they just admit to being gay, or liking to dress in women's clothes?

Why do they (the Trans) need to go physically change themselves, to emasculate or de-feminize themselves, to feel good about themselves?

That intensity scares "normal" people (hetero and homo) who can't otherwise fathom the distress and body hate Trans folks actually go through.

I have known and been friendly with three trans and at least four intersex folks during my 65 years on earth. If your mind is curious and open to nuance, there is a noticable gender difference between Transgender and Intersex, and the various colors of Queer. It's not just in the outward presentation. It's in the person.

[k_buddy762]

11. How can the fight be won

when 67% sides with 99% of conservatives?

[haele]

12. 67% of the polled people, who will tend to skeew conservative.

Conservative leaning people are more likely to stop and engage in surveys and polls because participation in those things allow them to feel like they're part of the group. And that's important with conservative leaning people, on the left or the right of the political spectrum.
Democrats now-a-days tend to be Socialist leaning (left) , Republicans tend to be Authoritarian leaning (right). Within the right and left, there's liberal (individual good focus) and conservative (group good focus).
That's why people get confused with Neo-Liberalism, which tends to be Right Wing rather than Left-Wing.
All this being said, it's a matter of opening up group-think on the Left to include Trans people. And I agree, that's a really difficult position to fight for because Trans are such a small component of society that most people don't know they've met one, let alone known of one other than maybe a few actors or artists.
And frankly, most men feel really protective of their dangly bits, so the idea of someone willingly going through bottom surgery makes them cringe. Unfortunately, it seems to take a confident man to be buddies with a Trans female, and too many men nowadays aren't confident with themselves, especially with the Alpo Male bullshit Advertising and Media personalities are making their money promoting.

[k_buddy762]

14. Thank you for the insights

truly. I can no longer keep track of "left" and "right" these days, things have moved around so much. The world has become far too complex for my old brain.

[EnergizedLib]

9. I don't mean us or people by our party

Personally, I think it’s something government should stay out of and let the state athletic association governing bodies and/or the NFHS handle this. I can see both sides.

But no, I’m talking about the people who celebrate when trans people off themselves and want to dehumanize and make life difficult for trans people every chance they get. Our side doesn’t do that, even if the majority might have a more conservative view on this issue.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

15. In 1996, exactly the same percentage of Democrats said gay marriage shouldn't be legal, fwiw

[Initech]

13. Riley Gaines is the most Karen of Karens that ever Karen'd.

[Celerity]

16. You asked 'why did Lia Thomas only tie for fifth?'. Thomas actually won an NCAA women's national championship event.

Lia Thomas was the first openly transgender athlete to win an NCAA Division I national championship, having won the women's 500-yard freestyle event in 2022, before being barred from competing in women's events by World Aquatics.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lia_Thomas

A Look At the Numbers and Times: No Denying the Advantages of Lia Thomas

During the last season Thomas competed as a member of the Penn men’s team, which was 2018-19, she ranked 554th in the 200 freestyle, 65th in the 500 freestyle and 32nd in the 1650 freestyle. As her career at Penn wrapped, she moved to fifth, first and eighth in those respective events on the women’s deck.

https://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/news/a-look-at-the-numbers-and-times-no-denying-the-advantages-of-lia-thomas/

Just how much of an advantage did Lia Thomas possesses over biological females? The numbers paint a clear picture. The fact that the University of Pennsylvania swimmer soared from a mid-500s ranking (554th in the 200 freestyle; all divisions) in men’s competition to one of the top-ranked swimmers in women’s competition tells the story of the unfairness which unfolded at the NCAA level.

In her final meet, Thomas finaled in three events at the NCAA Championships, highlighted by a victory in the 500 freestyle. She also finished fifth in the 200 freestyle and was eighth in the 100 freestyle. Although she didn’t contest the event at the NCAA Champs, Thomas had one of the country’s top times in the 1650 freestyle. Here’s a look at her performances throughout the season, including their comparative status to her times as a member of Penn’s men’s squad.

In the 500 freestyle, Thomas’ time of 4:33.24 from her NCAA-title swim handed her the fastest time in the nation by more than a second over Arizona State’s Emma Nordin (4:34.87). Additionally, Thomas’ difference from her personal best with the Penn men’s program was just 6%, as opposed to the typical 10% to 11% difference generally seen between men and women. Thomas’ best time in the 200 freestyle ended up being her 1:41.93 mark from the Zippy Invitational in December. That effort ultimately ended up 3.76% slower than her best time before her transition. Again, that time was between 7% and 8% faster than the typical separation between men and women.

When Thomas won the 200 freestyle at the Ivy League Champs in 1:43.12, she was even with runnerup Samantha Shelton at the midway point, but crushed the Harvard swimmer over the last 100, highlighted by a 25.04 split for the last 50 yards. The closing split of Thomas was faster than the finishing laps of Missy Franklin in her American-record performance, and the best closing effort of the likes of Katie Ledecky, Mallory Comerford and Siobhan Haughey, among others. In the 100 freestyle, Thomas’ best time prior to her transition was 47.15. At the NCAA Championships, she posted a prelims time in the event of 47.37. That time reflects minimal mitigation of her male-puberty advantage.