Riley Gaines Calls Lia Thomas’s ‘Antifa Super Soldier’ Shirt ‘Disturbing’

While transgender athlete Lia Thomas is infamous for stirring controversy and breaking biological female records, former University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines is known for calling him out. Their recent spat came after the biological male swimmer was caught wearing the words “Antifa Super Soldier” in rainbow lettering plastered on the front of a t-shirt. Gaines hastily responded.

“Doesn’t this make so much sense…” Gaines wrote. “I haven’t specifically bashed Lia Thomas on anything (other than calling him an entitled narcissist which I stand by) because ultimately he was following the rules in place. But this is disturbing.”

Gaines and Thomas have become linked to each other, as Thomas continues to compete against biological women and Gaines continues to stand up against the “arrogant cheat who STOLE a national title from a hardworking, deserving woman.” Other political figures joined Gaines in confronting Thomas on social media regarding his contentious outfit.

“The man who competed in women’s NCAA swim competition is now reportedly embracing Antifa,” conservative activist and presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy tweeted. He went on to claim that Thomas’s support of Antifa is “not surprising” and said that “the modern secular cults — from transgenderism to climateism — all share one thing in common: they’re anti-American at their core.”

Antifa is considered “militant anti-fascist movement” that former president Donald Trump pledged to designate as a “terrorist organization,” which never actually materialized. The group gained momentum in 2020 for rioting following the death of George Floyd. Experts have begun speculating the reason for Thomas’s support of such an “anti-American” group.

“Lia Thomas’s embrace of Antifa and the violence that flows from it is about dominance and power,” Family Research Council’s Meg Kilgannon told The Washington Stand. “It must be a power trip for him to stride into a woman’s locker room and know that the women there are powerless to remove you and must play along with the fantasy he has about himself. Now Thomas can play the role of ‘revolutionary soldier’ on the streets, much as he tries to role play femininity.”

Swimming is not the only sport under attack from biological men trying to compete in biological women’s matches. Trans-identifying activist and reality television personality India Willoughby — a biological male — recently claimed to be “more female” than tennis legend Martina Navratilova.

“Biology absolutely changes. My body chemistry is more female than Martina’s,” Willoughby tweeted. “My anatomy is female. The fact Martina and other bigots refuse to acknowledge me or any woman who happens to be trans is deeply offensive.”

Although the tennis legend kept her cool, Navratilova was direct in her response to Willoughby, “India never was, and never will be, female.”

Experts point to tennis star Serena Williams as a prime example regarding the differences between men and women. The female Olympic gold winner reportedly advocated for female sports in 2013, saying that men’s tennis is “a completely different sport. Men are a lot faster, they serve harder, they hit harder. … I love to play women’s tennis. I only want to play girls because I don’t want to be embarrassed.”

In a recent hearing, head of Human Rights Campaign and LGBTQ activist Kelley Robinson laughed “at men that think they can beat Serena Williams in tennis. And it’s just not the case. She is stronger than them.”

Gaines fired back by pointing out that “Both Serena and Venus lost to the 203rd ranked male tennis player.”

“The Willoughby claim that transwomen are biologically women is a similarly delusional expression of the male drive for dominance. These men will never be women, and they are also mere shells of the powerful masculinity they inadvertently reveal,” Kilgannon noted. “Thomas and Willoughby … pretend to be women and demand our servile participation in their sexual fantasies about themselves.”

The continuous controversy around Lia Thomas and other transgender individuals pushing a woke narrative, according to Senior Fellow for Biblical Worldview and Strategic Engagement Joseph Backholm, requires a cautious and patient response from Christians.

“I think Christians need to understand what is happening when people do things that seem outrageous,” he told The Washington Stand. “Sometimes it’s evil, sometimes it’s petty, and sometimes it’s just a thinly veiled cry for help and our response should recognize the difference. Oftentimes the best response is no response, especially on the internet. But if there are opportunities to speak the truth in love, do it.”