OU female athletes attend conservative activist Riley Gaines’ speech on transgender women in sports

Correction: This story was updated at 1:05 a.m. on April 3 to correct the misidentification of Peyton McQuillan from Katy Bush.

Various OU female athletes sat in attendance at Riley Gaines’ speech and Q&A about transgender women in sports hosted by OU’s chapter of Turning Point USA on Wednesday evening.

In an interview with OU Daily following the event, Gaines said there were female athletes, including from the softball, rowing, track and field, soccer and golf teams, attending the event.

“I think you guys have the most amazing coach,” Gaines said about OU softball head coach Patty Gasso.

Gaines also commended Jordy Bahl, former OU softball player and current Nebraska pitcher, on her stance against transgender women in sports. Bahl called Gaines her hero while introducing her at a Nebraska political event in 2023.

“Jordy Bahl has been so amazing on this issue,” Gaines said. “She’s put her name out there and it’s not easy to do.”

On March 17, OU Turning Point USA posted an advertisement on Instagram offering female athletes and their teams front-row seats and the ability to meet Gaines following the event. 

After meeting with athletes, police officers escorted Gaines to her vehicle. During this process, Gaines said it felt “amazing” and “revitalizing” to speak with OU athletes. 

“Maybe the objective was for me to inspire them, but it’s seeing a bunch of young students, but more specifically, female athletes in the room,” Gaines said. “It just reminds me why I do what I do.”

Following the event, Gaines posted pictures on Instagram with the student athletes she spoke with, including six members of the OU softball team. 

Peyton McQuillan and Chesni Scott, OU track and field athletes, spoke with Gaines after the event. McQuillan told OU Daily following the event that she enjoyed the Q&A and thinks Gaines is promoting a good message.

“She just wants to make sure everyone has a fair opportunity, and it’s clear that she cares,” McQuillan said. “It’s very easy to relate to it.”

Scott agreed, saying it was meaningful to speak with Gaines. Scott said as a female athlete, she just wants equal opportunity and for women to be seen and heard from.

“It’s really cool to connect with a former athlete,” Scott said. “It’s a hard lifestyle, so to see all the success she’s had and to be able to continue that is very special.”

Four members of OU’s rowing team were also in attendance of the event. Leah Brannon-Reeves, an OU aviation junior and member of the rowing team, told OU Daily she and her teammates loved Gaines’ message and wished more people attended.

“A lot of people who have political views don’t feel like a person,” Brannon-Reeves said. “They just feel like this figure who has opinions, but she just talked to us and she was interested in us. She was so funny and cool.”

Hayley Bergstrom, an OU rower, said Gaines presented many facts during the Q&A. After speaking with Gaines, Bergstrom said she supports Gaines’ efforts to keep transgender women out of sports but said she has no inherent issue with how people choose to identify.

“Biologically, men just have an advantage over women, no matter what,” Bergstrom said. “So we would just like to keep that simple, but there is no problem against trans people in general.”

Despite pushback from various advocacy groups and protesters outside of Dale Hall, Scott said she believed Gaines’ message during the event was respectful to transgender students.

“I believe that she is here to support (transgender people),” Scott said. “Like she said, she’s not anti, she’s pro women in sports.”

In a message to transgender students on campus, Gaines said she wished more of those in opposition came to the event to voice their opinions.

“I understand they were here exercising their First (Amendment) rights, many of them outside, which is also totally cool,” Gaines said. “But (I) wish they would have been in the room to listen to the message I had to share.”

PHOTOS: OU Turning Point USA event

This story was edited by Peggy Dodd, Anusha Fathepure, Ismael Lele and Ana Barboza. Mary Ann Livingood copy edited this story.