San Francisco State University Athletics Director Stephanie Shrieve-Hawkins is blaming the backlash against transgender athletes at the feet of bias against the transgender community.
Fox News reports that this blame comes as more and more members of the public question why transgender athletes are permitted to participate in sports alongside biological women. The concern is that transgender members have a physical advantage when they compete.
When speaking for an article published by the Golden Gate Express last Friday, Shrieve-Hawkins said:
Youll notice that especially transgender male to female is the one that people are focusing most on because its a gender bias in a way.
She continued, What does that say about women, that women arent strong?
Shrieve-Hawkins also pointed out that other competitions do not receive the same outrage. For example, she feels that competitions in the fine arts, such as dance competitions, are not getting the same level of backlash from the public as in other athletic competitions that people are raging about.
This statement comes after ex-NCAA swimmer Riley Gaines appeared at the Save Womens Sports event hosted by Turning Point USA. This event received backlash and had protestors show up and attempt to intimidate Gaines. She is a biological woman who competes in swimming competitions at the NCAA level. However, she now feels forced to compete against transgender athletes in her sport, and some say it puts her at an unfair disadvantage.
Gaines says that protestors ambushed her at the event and that police had to escort her off campus for her safety. Videos of that police escort have emerged on Twitter and other social media websites, according to Fox News.
The counter-protest to the event was hosted by SFSUs Queer & Trans Resource Center and aimed to celebrate trans athletes. The Golden Gate Express also reported that the group was holding a Queer and Trans Sports Mixer after the fact.
One of the groups messages was: Womens sports dont need saving, but we sure do need to uplift our beautiful sporty community!
A Turning Point USA spokesperson released a statement to Fox News stating that unruly protestors rushed over when the event ended and began to ambush Gaines and others.
The University Police Department at San Francisco State University released a statement to Fox News in which they stated:
We are conducting an ongoing investigation into the situation. There were no arrests related to the event. The disruption occurred after the [conclusion of the event], which made it necessary for UPD officers to move the event speaker from the room to a different, safe location.
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