(BPR) Champion swimmer and women’s advocate Riley Gaines told an online LGBTQ newspaper to “lawyer up” after the outlet claimed the athlete’s “anti-trans harassment on social media” was “linked” to a bomb threat made against a California library on Monday.
“This is libel & character assassination,” Gaines told Pink News on Thursday. “You are the only one inciting violence & outrage by this post, but I understand that’s the goal. Did you not learn anything from the last time you were sued?”
“Don’t worry about changing the article, it’s already been screenshotted,” Gaines added. “Lawyer up.”
This is libel & character assassination. You are the only one inciting violence & outrage by this post, but I understand thats the goal. Did you not learn anything from the last time you were sued?
Dont worry about changing the article, its already been screenshotted. Lawyer up. https://t.co/4ogLGwhyVY
— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) August 25, 2023
It all began with a meeting hosted at the Mary L. Stephens public library in Davis, California, by the Yolo country chapter of Moms for Liberty, a conservative advocacy group committed to “fighting for the survival of America by unifying, educating and empowering parents to defend their parental rights at all levels of government.”
A librarian shut the crowded meeting down just a few minutes into the presentation, “after the first speaker referred to transgender athletes playing in women’s sports as male,” Students First California co-founder Jonathan Zachreson reported on X.
“Earlier, the librarian suggested it was against state law to misgender someone or a group of people,” Zachreson continued. “That was his basis for kicking them out of the public library, making it impossible to talk about the problem of biological males competing in female sports.”
“You were misgendering… You were saying male in female sports.”
A librarian at a Davis, CA public library revoked a group’s reservation a few minutes into the program after the first speaker referred to transgender athletes playing in women’s sports as male.
IG:… pic.twitter.com/pHxql7VrgD
— Jonathan Zachreson (@JZachreson) August 21, 2023
Earlier, the librarian suggested it was against state law to misgender someone or a group of people.
That was his basis for kicking them out of the public library, making it impossible to talk about the problem of biological males competing in female sports. pic.twitter.com/O9mrUYyvsj
— Jonathan Zachreson (@JZachreson) August 21, 2023
Here is the moment the librarian kicked out the first speaker from the public library.
Her offense was simply saying biological men have a physical competitive advantage over women in sports. pic.twitter.com/Dko2tipcZx
— Jonathan Zachreson (@JZachreson) August 21, 2023
“Note, the library allowed the transactivists to harass and interrupt the organizers and speakers, but the moment @SophiaSLorey supposedly ‘misgenders’ a hypothetical person, he shuts the program down,” he pointed out in a later post.
.@goeke_christina also got some interesting footage of the protesters.
Note, the library allowed the transactivists to harass and interrupt the organizers and speakers, but the moment @SophiaSLorey supposedly “misgenders” a hypothetical person, he shuts the program down. https://t.co/pY8JxkLHss
— Jonathan Zachreson (@JZachreson) August 21, 2023
“I guess they don’t #LetWomenSpeak in Davis, CA,” Zachreson concluded.
I guess they don’t #LetWomenSpeak in Davis, CA. pic.twitter.com/4PHz4rVBRV
— Jonathan Zachreson (@JZachreson) August 21, 2023
The California Family Council account also posted video of the surreal scene — a post that Gaines re-posted.
“This is ridiculous, but not shocking….a female athlete silenced for calling a spade a spade,” Gaines remarked. “They won’t even engage in a civil conversation. Props to this gal for sticking her ground.”
“Do we know the librarian’s name and/or phone number?” Gaines asked her X followers. “We need silent majority to do its thing.”
