The NCAA swimming championships in 2022, affected Riley Gaines in more ways than one. Now a spokeswoman for the Independent Women’s Forum, Gaines never identified as a feminist growing up but that changed in 2022. During her chat on the Joe Rogan Experience, Gaines recounted the fateful incident that led her to gain national prominence and set her down the path of advocacy.

Kentucky senior Gaines tied for fifth place with Penn’s trans swimmer Lia Thomas at the 200-metre freestyle final at the NCAA Women’s Championships in 2022. But after the race, Gaines said that Thomas was given the only fifth-place trophy for the event and not her. She spoke out against Thomas being allowed to compete in the competition and eventually started advocating against the inclusion of trans athletes in female sports.

On the JRE podcast, Gaines recounted the fateful day she lost to Thomas and how exactly she was told that she wouldn’t be getting a trophy since the officials had decided to award it to the trans swimmer, without a valid explanation for the same.

“We get out of the water and we go behind the auditorium… The official looks at both myself and Thomas…and says ‘Great job, you two but you tied and we have only one trophy so we are going to give it to Lia. Sorry, Riley, you didn’t get one. We have been advised as an organization, that when photos are being taken, that it’s crucial that the trophy is in Lia’s hands,'” she added.

After her appearance on the biggest podcast in the English-speaking world, Gaines took to X to express the positive response that came her way following her comments on the podcast. “Received thousands of messages of support and encouragement since the Joe Rogan podcast dropped. So many have reached out to say they had no idea these things are happening. Thank you, @joerogan!! Everyday Americans are waking up,” she posted on X.

The JRE podcast enjoys a vast fan base and earlier this year inked a $250 million multi-year deal with Spotify. Since her comments after the 2022 NCAA debacle, Gaines became a central figure in a heated political battle.

In an interview with Fox News last year, Gaines said, “I never would have called myself a feminist before this. It almost goes against the co-dependency that I believe the sexes should have…That being said, I do now consider myself a feminist. But really, I’ve deemed it as being a modern-day feminist.” While Gaines gained appreciation following her comments on the JRE podcast, she has faced criticism as well.

Last year, Gaines was invited to campus by Harvard’s Network of Enlightened Women, a conservative women’s club. But students demonstrated against her at the event.

Joe Rogan, who largely agrees with Gaines on the subject of trans athletes being allowed in female sports, was appalled to hear this. He has, in fact, discussed the controversy around trans athletes on several occasions before, including Lia Thomas.

Joe Rogan’s views on the Lia Thomas controversy

Joe Rogan has previously talked about the issue of trans athletes competing in women’s sports. During a discussion with Ice Cube last year, Rogan said it is becoming “forced compliance” for everyone. He said, “You’re forced to comply with this. And it’s f—ing up women’s sports in a huge way. Like if you care at all about biological women, you should be against that.” Joe Rogan has been critical of Lia Thomas competing in the women’s division on his podcast.

During a discussion with physician Peter Attia in one of his podcast episodes, Rogan said, “Swimming, I mean that Lia Thomas is still the number one swimmer in the world, and it’s a biological male. Period. End of discussion. It’s madness. The whole thing is so crazy that you can call yourself a woman and then you’re a woman. And like, this has nothing to do with trans rights.” 

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What do you think about Rogan’s views on the subject? And what do you make of the revelations from Gaines? Let us know in the comments below.

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