Riley Gaines didn’t let Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., off the hook for not using the correct pronouns anymore.
The congresswoman was the subject of a trending conversation on social media Thursday when X users discovered that she no longer lists “she/her” pronouns on her bio.
Gaines, a former NCAA swimmer and OutKick contributor, chimed in to mock Ocasio-Cortez on X with multiple posts.
“They’ll pretend they haven’t embraced (or even celebrated) the insanity. Don’t forget who the compliant virtue-signaling sheep are,” Gaines wrote in response to a post that claimed Ocasio-Cortez took pronouns off her résumé before May of this year.
Gaines later responded to a video that showed Ocasio-Cortez previously apologizing for not including pronouns on her bio next to a photo that showed she no longer had them.
“We are winning and it is glorious,” Gaines wrote.
Then even later Thursday, Gaines made another effort to mock Ocasio-Cortez in a solo post.
“How will we know what to call AOC now that her pronouns are gone on her bio?!?!?!” Gaines wrote.
Gaines previously criticized Ocasio-Cortez for her stance on transgender athletes in women’s sports.
The Democratic congresswoman has been a frequent advocate for transgender rights and inclusion in women’s sports during her tenure. Ocasio-Cortez recently spoke out against Green Party vice presidential candidate Butch Ware for saying he doesn’t believe transgender athletes should play in women’s sports, calling the ticket “predatory.”
“The Australian Olympic Committee says men’s unwillingness to compete in women’s sports is predatory behaviour. For AOC, acknowledging biological reality is ‘predatory’. Do you know what a predator actually is? News Digital on Ocasio-Cortez’s comments: “Sexualization of children and normalization of pedophilia.”
AOC has been the subject of recent controversy, this time when X users discovered that she no longer lists her pronouns on her bio. AP
Ocasio-Cortez has taken a partisan stance in her support of transgender rights and protections.
After the Biden-Harris administration passed a comprehensive Title IX reform in April, which aims to provide more protections for gender identity in schools and universities, Ocasio-Cortez said the reform did not go far enough to benefit transgender people, specifically, trans people. Sexually. Athletes who want to compete in women’s sports.
“There is absolutely no reason for a Biden official to do this. It is indefensible and embarrassing. Your administrator can and should still refer to this command. “It’s a disgrace,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote in response to a report that the change would allow schools to ban transgender athletes from women’s and girls’ sports.
The administration issued a comprehensive rule clarifying that Title IX’s prohibition on discrimination “on the basis of sex” in schools covers discrimination based on gender identity, sexual orientation, and “pregnancy or related circumstances.”
While the administration has insisted that the regulation does not address athletic eligibility, several experts provided evidence to Fox News Digital last June that it would eventually put more biological men in women’s sports.
However, that wasn’t good enough for Ocasio-Cortez.
“They will pretend they never embraced (or even celebrated) madness,” Gaines wrote on
Ocasio-Cortez also co-sponsored the Equality Act, which was proposed in 2019 and includes revisions that “would force public schools to allow biologically male athletes who identify as transgender on girls’ sports teams.”
In March 2023, Democrats, including Ocasio-Cortez, called for a transgender rights bill, proposing a resolution that “recognizes that it is the duty of the federal government to develop and implement a transgender rights bill.”
The resolution specifically called for a federal law ensuring that biological men can “participate in sports on teams and in programs that best match their gender identity.” [and] Use school facilities that best match their gender identity.
Meanwhile, Gaines has passionately fought against transgender inclusion in women’s sports as a former college swimmer who infamously linked up with trans athlete Leah Thomas at the 2022 NCAA Championships.
Gaines shared her harrowing memories of her experience being forced to share a locker room with Thomas at a Trump campaign rally on October 23.
“I can share the gruesome details of what it was like to be forced to strip naked, inches away from a 6-foot-4 man who watched us strip down to nothing, while he did the same, exposing his perfectly intact, naked body,” he said. Gaines.
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“There are no words to describe the violation, betrayal and humiliation we felt.”
Gaines is leading a lawsuit against the NCAA with other female athletes, accusing the governing body of violating their Title IX rights because of its policies on gender identity.
The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Atlanta details the shock Gaines and other swimmers felt when they learned they would have to share a locker room with Thomas at the 2022 championships in Atlanta.
It documents a number of races they swam with Thomas, including the 200-yard final in which Thomas and Gaines tied for fifth place but Thomas, not Gaines, took home the fifth-place trophy.
Meanwhile, many other Democrats backed away from their support for transgender inclusion in women’s sports before and after the election.
Massachusetts Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., and Rep. Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y., spoke out against transgender inclusion in a New York Times article.
Moulton’s comments sparked a wave of backlash against him from Democratic allies who viewed his words as “transphobic.”
However, Moulton only doubled down on his comments amid the controversy.
