House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has invited Riley Gaines, a former collegiate swimmer-turned-female rights advocate, to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address on Thursday, Johnson’s office exclusively told The Daily Wire.
Gaines has become a leading advocate for girls and women’s sports and spaces after she was shoved aside for a biological male at the 2022 NCAA Division 1 women’s swimming tournament. Gaines competed in the women’s 200 freestyle and placed fifth, tying with male trans-identifying swimmer Lia Thomas. However, only Thomas received the fifth place trophy for the photo-op after the event, while Gaines was told by the NCAA that her trophy would come in the mail.
“Riley Gaines is a role model for America’s women and girls, inspiring them to unlock their potential and do the right thing, even when it isn’t popular,” Speaker Johnson told The Daily Wire. “Right now, the White House is attacking athletes like Riley, undermining the integrity of women’s athletics, and pushing for men to take scholarships and roster spots from women.”
“I’m grateful to host Riley at the State of the Union and am proud to join her in her efforts to save women’s sports,” Johnson added.
Gaines told The Daily Wire she’s excited to be Speaker Johnson’s guest.
“He has been steadfast in his support of Title IX and the importance of maintaining its original intent,” she said. “As the Biden Administration pursues their illegal administrative rewrite of Title IX, I’m confident Speaker Johnson will fight for women and common sense as he’s already done.”
Notably, the Biden administration has proposed changes to rewrite Title IX to include so-called “gender identity.” This would mean most policies banning biological males who identify as trans from competing with or against females would be in violation of law. Schools who don’t comply with the rule change could be stripped of funding.
Johnson has also invited Dr. Wayne Lewis Jr., the president of Houghton University, a Christian school in upstate New York.
This month, Lewis fiercely spoke out against men participating in women’s sports. “Biological males’ participation in women’s athletics is wrong,” he wrote. “Most Americans and most of the world know it to be wrong.”
“A fringe agenda under the guise of making school and collegiate athletics more inclusive for transgender people has grown to the place of now unfairly displacing gifted and hardworking female athletes, obliterating the historic achievements and records of female athletes of the past, and threatening to dismantle the opportunities and protections for girls and women in sport trailblazing leaders fought so hard to create and protect,” Lewis added.