Former UK swimmer Riley Gaines reacts to transgender ruling involving Lia Thomas

Former collegiate swimmers Riley Gaines and Lia Thomas will be forever linked as the faces of the controversy surrounding transgender athletes in women’s sports.

On Tuesday, Gaines, a former University of Kentucky standout, recognized a victory for her side of the debate when the University of Pennsylvania, Thomas’ former school, agreed to ban transgender women from its women’s sports teams to resolve a civil rights lawsuit.

The school also agreed to restore any swimming records and championships to Penn female athletes who lost out to Thomas, the Department of Education said.

The agreement resulted from a Title IX investigation conducted by the Department of Education.

The investigation by the department’s Office for Civil Rights found that Penn violated Title IX by allowing males to compete in women’s sports and occupy female-only intimate facilities.

Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 prohibits discrimination based on gender in education programs and activities that receive federal financial assistance, and that was the basis of the lawsuit.

Gaines competed against Thomas in the 2022 NCAA swimming and diving championships, in which Thomas became the first openly transgender athlete to win a national title (the women’s 500-yard freestyle). Thomas also placed fifth in the 200 freestyle, tying with Gaines.

“It is my hope that today demonstrates to educational institutions that they will no longer be allowed to trample upon women’s civil rights, and renews hope in every female athlete that their country’s highest leadership will not relent until they have the dignity, safety, and fairness they deserve,” Gaines said in a statement Tuesday.

After her 2022 race against Thomas, Gaines said that Thomas was given the only fifth-place trophy for the event. Gaines told The Daily Wire that an NCAA representative told her, “Hey, I just want to let you know, we only have one fifth-place trophy, so yours will be coming in the mail. We went ahead and gave the fifth-place trophy to Lia, but you can pose on the podium with the sixth-place trophy.”

Gaines has since said that her issue has never been about the trophy presentation.

“It’s about the message it sends to (women) … that we don’t matter,” she posted on social media in 2023.

Gaines has also spoken about how she was forced to change in the same locker room as Thomas.

The topic has divided the U.S. for the past several years, with critics saying transgender athletes have an advantage over cisgender women in competition.

Before the NCAA updated its ruling on transgender athletes earlier this year, Gaines led several protests against the organization’s participation policy, gaining a significant measure of fame in the process as an author, podcaster, social media icon and TV personality, particularly among political conservatives who support her views.

In February, the NCAA changed its policy, limiting competition in women’s sports to athletes who were assigned female at birth only. That ruling followed an executive order by President Donald Trump banning transgender athletes from women’s and girls’ sports.

Though Thomas’ victories will now be reflected differently in Penn’s record books, it remains unclear whether the NCAA will change the result of the race involving Gaines and Thomas or any of Thomas’ other NCAA marks.