(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Riley Gaines, a 12-time All-American swimmer and spokeswoman at the Independent Women’s Forum, was “ambushed” by an angry mob at an event in defense of women’s sports.
Gaines garnered widespread recognition after speaking out against allowing biological males to compete in women’s sports, including Lia Thomas. She invited by Turning Point USA and the Leadership Institute to speak at a women’s sports event at the San Francisco State University on April 6, but not before an angry mob gathered outside the classroom to riot, the New York Post reported.
“I was ambushed and physically hit twice by a man,” recounted Gaines in a tweet featuring the video of the scary ambush. “This is proof that women need sex-protected spaces.”
The trans mob appeared to demand money in exchange for Gaines’s safe passage out of the classroom in videos shared by the university’s newspaper, the Golden Gate Xpress.
Gaines and other conservative students were held hostage for approximately three hours before law enforcement was able to escort them outside the classroom, a Gaines agent said.
Footage of the mob accosting and yelling at a visibly shaken Gaines has since gone viral.
“Yeah you f*****g transphobic b***h—I f****g see you,” a heckler yelled at Gaines before accosting her and law enforcement down a hallway.
“You crying. You f*****g crying, b***h. F**k you,” the mobster continued to shout.
Louis Barker, Gaines’s husband, condemned the assault.
“She told me she was hit multiple times by a guy in a dress. I was shaking. It made me that mad,” Barker told Fox News. “It makes me sick to feel so helpless about it. She was under police protection and was still hit by a man wearing a dress.”
The IWF went to Twitter to address to the violent assault.
“We strongly condemn the violence perpetrated against @iwf spokeswoman @Riley_Gaines_ on @SFSU campus,” it said. “Riley was violently accosted, ambushed, and physically assaulted during a speech on sex discrimination women face in their own single-sex sports category.”
We strongly condemn the violence perpetrated against @iwf spokeswoman @Riley_Gaines_ on @SFSU campus. Riley was violently accosted, ambushed, and physically assaulted during a speech on sex discrimination women face in their own single-sex sports category. pic.twitter.com/uhND8UY2jX
— Independent Women's Forum (@IWF) April 7, 2023
Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., decried the assault, calling on law enforcement to take action. “We will not allow the violent radical left mob to silence.”
San Francisco State University and law enforcement must take immediate action to hold those who assaulted @Riley_Gaines_ accountable.
We will not allow the violent radical left mob to silence us.
— Sen. Marsha Blackburn (@MarshaBlackburn) April 7, 2023
Gaines warned that the violent incident won’t stop her from speaking out against trans activism. “[The mob] still only further assures me I’m doing something right,” she wrote on Twitter. “When they want you silent, speak louder.”
