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Riley Gaines said she had to wrap her baby in a bulletproof blanket due to death threats


WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 14: Former competitive swimmer Riley Gaines speaks at a news conference following the House of Representatives vote on H.R. 28 - "Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act" at the U.S. Capitol on January 14, 2025 in Washington, DC. The House of Representatives passed the legislation in a 218 to 206 vote to prohibit federal funding for K-12 schools that include transgender students on women’s sports teams. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Women’s sports activist Riley Gaines said during an interview this week that she had to wrap her baby in a bulletproof blanket when she went to go hear the Supreme Court listen to arguments for a case about transgender athletes in women’s sports.

During an interview with Fox News, Gaines said that her daughter goes everywhere with her when she travels.

“She was there with me on the Supreme Court steps, and honestly, like, yeah, just as you said, there’s a level of emotion to it, especially when you have to consider the fact [that] you have a 3-month-old baby that you have to wrap in a bulletproof blanket because of the threats that were present there yesterday,” she said during the interview.

Earlier this week, the Supreme Court heard arguments from cases in Idaho and West Virginia regarding if the states’ laws about banning transgender athletes from women and girl’s sports is constitutional.

Gaines spoke ahead of the arguments and blamed the Democratic Party for the condition that women’s sports was in regarding transgender athletes.

"I'm pissed off that we've reached a point where we seemingly have an entire political party who has diminished and erased our rights as women," Gaines said.

"That's exactly what this is. Don't let them frame it any other way they love. To hide behind words like compassion and empathy and inclusion. Let me be very, very clear, what me and what my teammates face. It was not inclusive. It was exclusive, because we as women were excluded from participating, from competing, from calling ourselves champions."

Gaines is a former NCAA swimmer who has been a strong advocate for keeping biological men out of women’s sports.