Rep. Greg Steube, a Republican from Florida, met with Kylee Alons, a great swimmer for N.C. State, on Wednesday. He posted on social media that she told him a tale about the 2022 NCAA Championships.
Steube claimed that Alons informed him that Lia Thomas was permitted to change in the women’s locker room, so she chose to change there rather than in the open.
The most accomplished swimmer in NC State history, Kylee, and I met today, Steube tweeted. She described how, at the NCAA Finals, she changed in a storage closet to avoid the sexual harassment that comes with doing so in front of Will ‘Lia’ Thomas, a biological male who insisted on being in the female locker room.
Alons competed in the NCAA Championships while in her senior season with the Wolfpack. During that campaign, Thomas became the first transgender woman to win a national championship.
Alons, a two-time national champion in the 400 medley relay and the 200 medley relay in 2021, ended her collegiate career this year after electing into her fifth season. Throughout her undergraduate career, she won five ACC championships and was a 31-time All-American.
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Following Riley Gaines’ moving speech at the Senate committee on “Protecting Pride: Defending the Civil Rights of LGBTQ+ Americans,” Steube tweeted about Alons’ story.
Gaines broke down in tears as he described having to share a locker room with Thomas.
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“However, that’s not all. Gaines said, “The NCAA forced me and my female swimmers to share a locker room with Thomas in addition to being forced to forfeit our trophies, titles, and possibilities. “A 22-year-old man, 6 feet tall, with exposed male genitalia. To be clear, we were not informed that we would be sharing a loo. We weren’t asked for our permission, and we didn’t provide it.
Gaines, the adviser for Independent Women’s Voice, expressed her hope that the politicians present at the meeting would recognise that it was an invasion of their privacy and “how some of us felt uncomfortable, embarrassed, and even traumatised by this experience.”
“I know that I don’t speak for every single person who competed against Lia Thomas, but I know that I speak for many because I saw the tears,” she stated. “I observed the sobs of the ninth- and seventeenth-place finishers, who were narrowly omitted from the All-American team. I can attest to the enormous discomfort felt by these 18–22-year-old girls in the locker room when they turn around and notice male eyes observing in the same space.
And I can confirm that these girls, who just like me, spent their entire life working to come to this meet, were grumbling and whispering in wrath and irritation. I can confirm that female athletes who opposed Lia Thomas competing in the women’s division were bullied, threatened, and emotionally blackmailed into quiet and obedience across the nation.
Later, Gaines responded to Steube’s early-morning tweet on Thursday.
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Gaines stated, “She and her teammates changed in a JANITORS CLOSET because it felt safer than changing in a locker room where an intact male would also be undressing.”
I have admired Kylee for a long time because of how quickly she moves, but now even more so since she is speaking up to “SaveWomensSports.”
