Riley Gaines reveals what’s ‘at stake’ if women’s protection bill isn’t passed
Oklahoma governor signs 'Women's Bill of Rights' into law, codifying biological differences
Riley Gaines: Protecting women is bigger than just sports
Former NCAA swimmer Riley Gaines talks to 'The Evening Edit' about Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signing the 'Women's Bill of Rights' into law.
After Oklahoma became the third state to pass legislation protecting biological women, former NCAA All-American swimming champion Riley Gaines urged other leaders to do the same.
"It's a common sense law," Gaines said on "The Evening Edit" Wednesday. "I see what's at stake if we don't do this, if leaders don't follow the example the Governor Stitt has so perfectly exemplified. And what's at stake is the truth."
Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt signed the "Women's Bill of Rights" into law on Tuesday, which codifies distinctions between men and women based on sex and identify spaces in which they are to be kept separate – including locker rooms, restrooms, rape crisis centers, domestic violence shelters and prisons, among others.
"In Oklahoma alone, [the term ‘woman’] is used 584 times in Oklahoma statute. So this means there are 584 times for unelected bureaucrats and officials to go in and redefine this word woman... to fit their radical agenda," Gaines added.
The law is said to bring "clarity, certainty, and uniformity" to state laws, according to its text, and prevent situations like the ones Gaines and other female swimmers underwent when they were forced to undress in a locker room in the presence of transgender athlete Lia Thomas.
Riley Gaines calls Oklahoma's "Women's Bill of Rights" a "pro-truth" piece of legislation on "The Evening Edit" Wednesday, August 2, 2023. (Getty Images)
Before the Sooner State’s passage of the bill, only Kansas and Tennessee had recently enacted similar legislation.
"We're going to keep pushing this in every state. And of course, we have target states to which our states we think will be effective in passing this," Gaines noted. "But we're going to continue moving forward."
Gaines also wanted to make clear that this is "not anti-transgender" legislation, claiming that the word "transgender" is not found anywhere in the bill’s text.
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"I don't know why people assume when you're protecting women, immediately that's anti-trans. I think that says a lot about their argument in general," she said. "But this is a pro-woman bill. This is a pro-truth bill. It's not anti anything."
Gov. Stitt told Fox News’ Harris Faulkner if state agencies fail to follow the executive order, violators will be "removed immediately."
The former college swimmer claimed she’s working with Reps. Diana Harshbarger, R-Tenn., and Debbie Lesko, R-Ariz., on the federal level to put a national women’s bill into action.
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"This is bigger than just sports. It really is. We're seeing these cultural issues, we're seeing them playing into academia, we're seeing it in the media, we're seeing it in corporate America," Gaines said.
"I can't reiterate enough," she continued, "it's about denying truth, and the nearly 250 years that we've been established as a country, we haven't had a problem defining terms such as woman. And now we have a sitting Supreme Court justice who can't even do so."
Fox News’ Taylor Penley contributed to this report.