A recent poll found that a clear majority of Americans oppose athletes competing against teams of the opposite birth gender. The news could lend support to athletes and activists such as Riley Gaines, who has protested the addition of transgender individuals on women’s sports teams.
According to the recent Gallup poll, 69% of the public believes that athletes should compete against their own birth gender. This figure is a significant increase from the 61% who believed the same in 2021.
Furthermore, the number of Americans who support transgender athletes competing against their opposite birth gender declined. This year’s poll found 26% support for the notion, as compared to 34% who said the same two years ago.
Gaines said that biological males in women’s sports “should never have become a political issue” and that the poll’s findings show that this is one instance in which “the majority of the general public can agree.”
“The pendulum has swung too far, and people are beginning to see what’s at stake if it continues,” she said.
Gaines received considerable notoriety for her protest against Lia Thomas, born William Thomas, in female swimming leagues. The former male swimmer declared himself a woman and started to dominate a number of college women’s contests.
Gaines reported that she and other biologically female swimmers had to change in the same locker room as Thomas. Another female athlete, Paul Scanlon, recently came out in the open with criticism of Thomas.
Bullying mentality. Hear the rage in their male voices.
Notice the Lenin flag. They talk of "trans genocide" yet their poster child of the movement has a butcher bill of millions? Make it make sense https://t.co/TSo8WSUIXV
— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) September 16, 2023
Scanlon said that she had “nightmares for weeks” after sharing locker space with Thomas. Thomas.
“I would be at my locker and then all of a sudden hear a masculine voice, and I would just jump,” she said. “I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, somebody got in here.’”
In the meantime, Gaines received considerable praise from conservatives after speaking out against Thomas’ role in the sport. On the other hand, Gaines has also received considerable criticism from the political left.
During a planned appearance at a California college earlier this year, Gaines was barricaded in a room by angry protesters and had to be escorted out by police.
