NCAA president finally answers questions about Riley Gaines' campaign vs transgenders in women's sports
Baker appeared on Capitol Hill on Thursday
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Former NCAA women’s swimmer Riley Gaines was not at the House sub-committee hearing on NIL Thursday in Washington D.C., but her argument against transgender women competing in women’s sports was.
And NCAA president Charlie Baker couldn’t hide from the questions by Republican Congresswoman Debbie Lesko of Arizona about Gaines’ continuing campaign and her two unanswered letters to Baker.
"We write on behalf of a coalition of women’s organizations to demand that the NCAA meet with female athletes adversely affected by its discriminatory practice of allowing male athletes on women teams," Gaines wrote in a letter to Baker and the NCAA dated Jan. 11, 2024, as read by Lesko.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Gaines host the Gaines For Girls podcast for OutKick.
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Transgender Athletes In Women’s Sports Entered NIL Hearing
Lia Thomas looks on from the podium after finishing fifth in the 200 Yard Freestyle during the 2022 NCAA Division I Women's Swimming & Diving Championship at the McAuley Aquatic Center on the campus of the Georgia Institute of Technology on March 18, 2022 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Mike Comer/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)
Lesko held up the letter as she addressed Baker, who became NCAA president on March 1, 2023. He previously served as Republican governor of Massachusetts from 2015 through January 5, 2023.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Without single-sex competition, there can be no equal athletic opportunity," Lesko read from Gaines’ letter. "The NCAA knows this, yet it continues to propagate a policy that allows male athletes on women's teams. We renew our demands to the governing body to repeal all policies and rules that allow male athletes to take roster spots on women’s teams and compete in women’s events. And establish and enforce the rights of female athletes to participate in sports based on sex. And require its member institutions to provide single-sex locker rooms for female athletes."
Gaines, a former Kentucky swimmer from Gallatin, Tennessee, went on to say in her letter read by Lesko that the NCAA has not acted on any of these demands.
"And instead, women’s rights have been further eroded," Lesko read to conclude the letter.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"My question to you sir," Lesko said. "Will you commit to meeting with the women athletes as requested in this letter?"
Baker said, "Sure."
Riley Gaines’ Letters Not Answered By Charlie Baker
NCAA president Charlie Baker is interviewed by an ESPN reporter during the Saturday afternoon Cricket Celebration Bowl played between the Howard Bisons and the Florida A&M Rattlers on December 16, 2023 at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. (David J. Griffin/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
"My next question is, will the NCAA make the changes requested in this letter?," Lesko asked.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Just for your own information," Baker said, avoiding the question. "Every single NCAA championship, the host community and the host institution and the host organization under our current rules, is required to provide safe and secure accommodations to all athletes. And if the athletes are looking for, um, specific solutions to deal with concerns that they have, they’re going to get them."
Baker did not mention Gaines’ by name, did not answer her questions directly and avoided her yet again.
"And we should never be in a position where we’re putting someone in a position where they feel they’re not safe, period," he said. "I can’t speak to what happened before I got here, but those are the rules as they stand right now."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}NCAA President Charlie Baker Swims Around Riley Gaines
Former collegiate swimmer Riley Gaines testifies during a House Oversight Subcommittee on Health Care and Financial Services hearing on Capitol Hill December 5, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Lesko said, "Well, that’s good to hear. Now, Miss Riley Gaines in recent media articles has said that she sent you a letter back in January of 2023. She was disappointed – even though you said those things – that she hasn’t gotten a response. And nothing’s really changed."
Baker then launched into how busy he was in his first year as the NCAA’s president and sounded dismissive of Gaines.
"Well, my first year, my primary objective was to do something nobody had ever done before in my job, which was to meet with all 97 conferences," he said. "To get a sense about what the key issues and opportunities associated with college sports were. And I spent dozens of hours with student-athletes."
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Congresswoman Debbie Lesko Gets Baker-Gaines Meeting
Then Charlie Baker seemed to insinuate that Riley Gaines‘ campaign was of lesser importance.
"If folks want to have an open conversation about issues associated with college sports and with sports generally, we’ll figure out how to make that happen," he said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Well, good," Debbie Lesko said, then chided Baker and began to hold him to a future meeting with Gaines and her camp.
"I hope it happens soon," she said. "I’ll call them right when I’m done with this hearing and let them know that you’re willing to meet with them."
Baker said, "OK."