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Roanoke College swimmers take victory lap after hounding trans teammate to quit

Chris Graham
swimming
(© natalia – stock.adobe.com)

Congratulations to the members of the Roanoke College women’s swim team, who hounded an unnamed would-be trans teammate into quitting, and held a press conference on Thursday to dunk on her.

The swimmers, according to a press release from the far-right Conservative Women’s Forum, had been “gaslit into allowing a biological male to join their Division III Women’s Swim Team.”

Except that she didn’t join the team, after a pressure campaign that, according to what was otherwise a favorable piece about her teammates in the New York Post, pushed the trans swimmer to contemplate suicide.

“Our experience was an emotional rollercoaster ride that I don’t want any girl to ever go through with,” one of the team’s co-captains, Kate Pearson, was quoted in the Post article, unironically, considering.

You won’t be surprised to learn that Riley Gaines, whose name you wouldn’t know if she hadn’t raised a bigoted stink about trans swimmer Lia Thomas, was on hand for the Roanoke College press conference spectacle.

“It’s refreshing to see a group of girls willing to say enough is enough when they’re faced with an injustice. When being told to stay quiet and accept discrimination, they’ve said ‘no.’ I’m so proud to link arms with them in the fight to save women’s sports,” Gaines said.

Again, the trans swimmer, who, again, hasn’t been identified, ended up not joining the team, because of a pressure campaign from her would-be teammates that drove her to the point of suicide.

This is not a good look on Roanoke College.

Chris Graham

Chris Graham

Chris Graham, the king of "fringe media," a zero-time Virginia Sportswriter of the Year, and a member of zero Halls of Fame, is the founder and editor of Augusta Free Press. A 1994 alum of the University of Virginia, Chris is the author and co-author of seven books, including Poverty of Imagination, a memoir published in 2019. For his commentaries on news, sports and politics, go to his YouTube page, or subscribe to his Street Knowledge podcast. Email Chris at [email protected].

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