Riley Gaines Accuses Penn State of Canceling Real Women’s Day Campus Event

former-collegiate-swimmer-Riley-Gaines-Apr2023-ap-640x480
AP Photo/Hannah Schoenbaum
Warner Todd Huston

Save women’s sports activist and former NCAA swimming champion Riley Gaines is accusing Penn State of canceling her Real Women’s Day event speech on campus.

Gaines had planned the speech for Tuesday in keeping with her quest to make Oct. 10 “Real Women’s Day” with the idea that Oct is the 10th month, and the tenth day would be X/X, which is the chromosome pairing of biological females.

But Gaines jumped to her X account to blast the school for hypocritically canceling her speech. Gaines specifically pointed to a video produced by Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi, who explained that the school is “bound by the First Amendment” to allow speakers on campus “that many will consider controversial, either because their views are not widely held or because a speaker espouses ideas that are actively hateful.”

Gaines found Bendapudi’s to be a joke because the same school claiming to represent freedom of speech canceled her speech for women.

“No way President of Penn State makes a whole video explaining why public institutions are legally obligated to let ‘bigots’ apparently like me on campus to speak then proceeds to CANCEL my speech tomorrow for real women’s day (X/X),” Gaines said in her Oct. 9 post. “Have it your way. See ya tomorrow with a soap box and megaphone, Penn State!”

School officials countered with the claim that Gaines was “late” reserving the room for her speech, so it was canceled.

“No event featuring Riley Gaines has ever been canceled at Penn State,” the school claimed in a statement, according to Fox News.

“Initially, Turning Point USA, the student group bringing Ms. Gaines to campus, sought indoor space but did not meet the deadline for submitting the required reservation documents — an expectation upheld for any recognized student organization at Penn State,” the school continued. “The group then shared alternative plans for an outdoor event to celebrate free speech, and as late as last week, they had no confirmation that Ms. Gaines would attend the event, however they sent a confirmation early this morning.”

But Gaines countered that by showing copies of communications between the school and the TPUSA that, she says, shows that the school put roadblocks in the way of her event by slow walking meetings and adding sudden additional requirements.

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Facebook at: facebook.com/Warner.Todd.Huston, or Truth Social @WarnerToddHuston

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.