SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — San Francisco State University’s president authored a message about the Riley Gaines incident. She called the events “deeply traumatic,” but not for Gaines, who claims she was assaulted.
Gaines, a former Division 1 college swimmer, said she was verbally and physically attacked at SFSU after she gave a speech on behalf of Save Women’s Sports. Gaines tied with transgender swimmer Lia Thomas in the 200 Freestyle finals at the 2022 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships, and she is an outspoken critic of allowing transgender athletes to compete in NCAA women’s sports.
On Tuesday, San Francisco State University president Lynn Mahoney wrote a letter to the campus community. “Last Thursday, Turning Point USA hosted an event on campus that advocated for the exclusion of trans people in athletics. The event was deeply traumatic for many in our trans and LGBTQ+ communities, and the speaker’s message outraged many members of the SF State community,” Mahoney wrote.
On the same day as the April 6 incident, Gaines wrote on Twitter, “I was ambushed and physically hit twice by a man. This is proof that women need sex-protected spaces.”
The university’s president described the incident as an unfortunate “disturbance” that “delayed the speaker’s departure.” A crowd of students yelled at Gaines, “Trans rights are human rights.”
Mahoney said SFSU is committed to freedom of expression, academic freedom, and the right to teach and learn free from censorship.
“Last week was a hard one for San Francisco State. As we have seen here and at many universities, balancing these with dearly held commitments to inclusion and social justice is hard and painful,” Mahoney wrote. “To our trans community, please know how welcome you are. We will turn this moment into an opportunity to listen and learn about how we can better support you.”
Mahoney offered praise to those on campus who “rallied quickly to host alternative inclusive events, protest peacefully and provide one another with support at a difficult moment.” She also said she was proud that the First Amendment was honored on campus.
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Gaines maintains that she was assaulted. “That ambush was the opposite of peaceful. I missed my flight home because I was barricaded in a classroom,” she wrote.
Gaines later appeared on “Fox and Friends” and said, “The campus police did nothing. The Dean of Students did nothing. I will be pursuing legal action. People need to face repercussions.”
SFSU administrators said they will review and improve the implementation of the CSU’s antidiscrimination policies, processes, and training.
Mahoney added, “We will continue our work to provide space for all speakers. I cannot promise we will always do this perfectly. I can promise that this will be hard and messy, and that we will continue to learn together.”
