Why Riley Gaines wants to send a ‘thank-you note’ to Lia Thomas

This month will mark the three-year anniversary of Riley Gaines’ infamous tie with Lia Thomas at the 2022 NCAA women’s swimming championships. 

At the time, Thomas, previously known as Will Thomas, was hailed by liberals as the next “civil rights icon” in sports, doing sit-down interviews with ESPN, NBC News and “Good Morning America.” 

Gaines was an aspiring dentist who had to wait to hoist her own trophy until Thomas was done with photo ops. 

In 2025, things are different. 

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After a failed bid to qualify for the Paris Olympics, Thomas is the subject of multiple lawsuits against the NCAA, the Ivy League and the University of Pennsylvania, led by Gaines and other female swimmers who had to share areas with Thomas. Penn is also under investigation by the Department of Education for potential Title IX violations.

Gaines is now hailed as a sports civil rights icon by conservatives with a proposed bill named after her progressing through the legislature in Georgia, the site of her 2022 tie with Thomas. 

Other states have taken their own steps to prevent transgender inclusion in women’s sports, and President Donald Trump signed an executive order to ban it on a national level. Data shows the majority of Americans have become opposed to transgender inclusion in women’s and girls sports and that the issue even influenced voters in the 2024 election.

“I think we should send a thank-you note to people like Will Thomas, I really do, signed and sealed by me. I will sign the thank-you note, I will write it, because I believe he handed us the election,” Gaines told Fox News Digital. 

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“There was a lot that was wrong with Joe Biden, his administration and the Democratic Party as a whole outside of the sports stuff … but this was the perfect visual. It’s like the South Park episode. … It painted the picture that many of us were concerned about for a while, but made it a reality.” 

A national exit poll conducted by the Concerned Women for America legislative action committee found that 70% of moderate voters saw the issue of “Donald Trump’s opposition to transgender boys and men playing girls’ and women’s sports and of transgender boys and men using girls’ and women’s bathrooms” as important to them. Additionally, 6% said it was the most important issue of all, while 44% said it was “very important.”

And Trump outperformed polling among women, especially young women. 

As much as Gaines wants to thank Thomas for bringing attention to the issue, she also feels sympathy for the athlete and has even tried to express that sympathy to Thomas. 

“I’ve reached out several times, especially at first. Honestly, I hate to say it, but I reached out apologetically, like feeling that I needed to explain myself and almost apologize for feeling the way that I did because we were so conditioned to believe it was hurtful, it was exclusive, it wasn’t the kind thing to take the stance that I had,” Gaines said. 

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“So, initially I reached out, hoping to have a conversation to explain myself more and express my apologies for feeling the way I did. And, like I said, it pains me to say that.”

Thomas has not responded to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. 

If Gaines and Thomas reconnected today, Gaines might be less apologetic. But even then, she would still hope to offer Thomas some reprieve. 

“I would still, of course, welcome conversation, but it would not be in a way that is apologizing for feeling the way that I do. It would be in a way that I could, of course, still be constructive and encourage Thomas to come to the side of common sense,” she added. “But there won’t be any shaking in my voice. I’m not apologizing for anything.” 

Since Thomas’ ascent in 2022, other transgender athletes have attracted similar national controversy and political involvement, including former San Jose State University volleyball player Blaire Fleming and openly transgender track and field runner Sadie Schreiner.

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And while Gaines is opposed to these athletes being allowed to participate in sports with biological females, she sees them as victims of a movement to enable transgender athletes in women’s sports.

“I view them as victims too. I really do. They have fallen victim to the movement. They have unfortunately fallen for the lie that they weren’t created uniquely and intentionally in God’s perfect image. And that is a horrible message to send to anyone,” Gaines said. 

Fleming was thrust into the national spotlight in the fall after multiple opponents forfeited when lawsuits were filed alleging the school withheld Fleming’s birth sex from teammates. 

The situation prompted Trump to comment about Fleming while campaigning in October during a Fox News town hall event. 

Like UPenn with Thomas, SJSU is also now under investigation by the Department of Education for its handling of Fleming.

Unlike Thomas, Fleming’s gender identity was an alleged hidden secret because the volleyball player has no known history of competing in men’s or boys sports. Thomas competed on UPenn’s men’s team two years before transitioning to women’s. 

Schreiner became one of the first-known casualties of Trump’s recent executive order. After the NCAA changed it’s gender eligibility policy to prevent biological males from competing in women’s competition to comply with Trump’s order, Schreiner’s school, the Rochester Institute of Technology, told Fox News Digital the athlete wouldn’t be competing in future competitions. 

Then Schreiner defeated a handful of teenage female opponents at the USA Track and Field Open Masters Championships last weekend. 

“I have my own thoughts about the behaviors of these men,” Gaines said. “I certainly believe there is a level of narcissism. I believe there’s a level of entitlement and total disregard for everyone else around these people. But, ultimately, I believe they’re victims too, which is the sad reality of the gender ideology movement.

“The gender ideology movement is destructive to everyone, except the people profiting off of it. … It’s the biggest medical scandal this world has ever seen.”

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