What to Know
Riley Gaines, the swimmer turned conservative activist who is best known for advocating against the inclusion of trans women in women’s sports, welcomed a baby girl at the end of September 2025. Now, she reportedly takes her daughter everywhere, but feels like she has to wrap her in a bulletproof blanket to keep her safe. While on Fox News’ Outnumbered, Riley, 25, said her three-month-old baby has already met President Donald Trump and also joined her “on the Supreme Court steps.”
Ahead of Supreme Court hearings related to trans athletes participating in women’s sports, Riley and other anti-trans activists gathered in Washington D.C.
Now that she’s a mom, she’s thinking about things a bit differently.
Welcoming her daughter three months ago clearly hasn’t stopped Riley from speaking out. But on Fox News’ Outnumbered, she suggested that she does have some concerns about her involvement in political activism now that she’s a mother. In spite of these concerns, though, Riley’s daughter Margot has already done a lot. “I’ll tell you, having a little human being, especially a little daughter who’s here with me today…” Riley said. “She goes everywhere with me. She’s been to 16 states, she’s met the president. She’s gonna be super dangerous at two truths and a lie one day.”
When Riley attended the Supreme Court, her daughter was also there with her. “She was there with me on the Supreme Court steps,” Riley said. “And honestly, just as you said, there’s a level of emotion to it, especially when you have to consider the fact [that] you have a three-month-old baby that you have to wrap in a bulletproof blanket because of the threats that were present there yesterday.”
Riley has said that women’s sports are “not inclusive.”
Ahead of the Supreme Court hearings, Riley said she was “excited” about the cases but also “p—ed off.” She claimed that “we’ve reached a point where we seemingly have an entire political party who has diminished and erased our rights as women” (and was referring to Democrats).
She accused those who support trans athletes of trying “to hide behind words like compassion and empathy and inclusion.” But according to her, what she and her teammates experienced in women’s sports was “not inclusive.”
She alleged, “It was exclusive, because we as women were excluded from participating, from competing, from calling ourselves champions.”
Riley became a prominent voice in right-wing activism after she and swimmer Lia Thomas tied for fifth place in the 200-yard freestyle at the 2022 NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships. Lia held the fifth-place trophy for photos, while Riley was given the sixth-place trophy. She told the Daily Wire that an NCAA rep had said, “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.”
Riley’s feuds with other high-profile people have sparked headlines on multiple occasions. In 2025, Riley made a transphobic comment about a high school softball team. In response, gymnast Simone Biles wrote, “You’re truly sick, all of this campaigning because you lost a race. Straight up sore loser. You should be uplifting the trans community and perhaps finding a way to make sports inclusive OR creating a new avenue where trans feel safe in sports.”
