Female athletes Riley Gaines (swimming) and Megan Rapinoe (soccer) have made headlines recently, one for standing proud and strong for women in sports (and getting physically attacked in the process) and the other for betraying them despite the fact that she has previously acted in the role of spokesperson for women’s equality.

As we reported Monday, Rapinoe, a U.S. women’s soccer team star-turned-woke activist, ripped the mask off in signing on to an “Athlete Ally”-composed letter opposing the Republican-introduced “Protection of Girls and Women in Sports” Act, which would keep boys and men who identify as a girl or a woman from being allowed to participate in girls’ and women’s sports.

“If this bill passes, transgender and intersex girls and women throughout the country will be forced to sit on the sidelines, away from their peers and their communities,” the letter states in part.

Gaines, on the other hand, has become the face of the “Save Women’s Sports” movement, speaking before state legislative committees as well as those in the U.S. Congress, on popular TV shows like Tucker Carlson’s, and at college campuses – even those that present a significant risk to her personal safety.

Naturally, one would expect Gaines to have a response to Rapinoe attaching her name to the letter, and true enough, Gaines posted it to the Twitter machine this morning, pointing out that at this point Rapinoe isn’t playing much at all anymore and doesn’t have to face the possibility of competing against a transgender “woman”:

It's worth noting that 1) you're done with your athletic career and 2) because you aren't sexually attracted to men, it's unlikely you will ever have a daughter to defend. To me, this looks like a classic case of virtue signaling because you have nothing to personally lose. https://t.co/tq0wxo91TN

— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) April 11, 2023

To clarify on Gaines’ second point, it is possible that someday Rapinoe could have a daughter, but her point about Rapinoe having “nothing to personally lose” is still valid because not only is Rapinoe all but officially retired at this point, but her partner and former WNBA player Sue Bird is actually officially retired from pro sports. So Rapinoe is indeed making this argument at a time when neither she nor Bird (who also signed the letter) has any skin in the game.

Further, Gaines also noted as I and other conservatives have that Rapinoe likely would not take too kindly to having a man who identified as a woman replace her on any of the soccer teams she’s played on throughout her career:

I can respect opinions that differ from my own and everyone is entitled to think/speak
independently, but I can't help but think Megan Rapinoe would genuinely shiv any male who tried to take her spot on the US Women's National Team.

— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) April 11, 2023

“Faux feminism,” Gaines later tweeted in response to the story on Rapinoe’s signing of the letter.

These are all, of course, fair points. It’s very easy for a professional athlete and one who ticks all the left’s favorite boxes to advocate for transgender “women” to be allowed to play in women’s sports when that athlete is no longer playing and doesn’t have to worry about the possibility that they’ll be subjected to either playing against one or having one compete for their spot.

It’s interesting when you think about it – the vast majority of the people we see most passionately defending the Lia Thomases of the world either do not play sports themselves or have never been on the receiving end of what it feels like to be a woman competing against someone who was born a man and who still has the superior strength of a man regardless of how they “identify.”

Instead of relying on feelings, the trans rights mob maybe should take a step back and look at all the facts from scientific, moral, and historical perspectives. But that would require them to be awake. And as we all know at this point, being “woke” in their view is far more important for their social clout that being awake and fully informed, as inconvenient as that may be.

Flashback: ESPN Writer Wonders Why People Don’t Like Megan Rapinoe and I Have Thoughts