Tim Barto: Riley Gaines is calling it like it is

By
Suzanne Downing
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38

By TIM BARTO

Last week, Must Read Alaska ran a column I wrote about evil. I felt it necessary because too many of us on the side of common sense and traditional values have allowed a cultural shift to be ushered in where up is down and good is bad.

It’s not a small thing to call someone or something evil. It takes a firm commitment and even some courage because doing so brings out vile and vicious attacks, usually accompanied by what has become meaningless labeling; i.e., racist, sexist, misogynist, homophobic. 

Tim Barto: Calling evil for what it is

So it was with great delight that I read about Riley Gaines, the former All-American swimmer from Kentucky, calling out evil for what it is. Having competed directly against Lia Thomas, the male swimmer from the University of Pennsylvania who decided he was female and was allowed to transfer from the men’s swim team to the women’s swim team, Riley was the first female athlete to speak out against the gross injustice that was Thomas’ run as a female athlete.

Riley has made it her life’s mission to bring an opposing point of view on this issue. As the mainstream media, including Sports Illustrated and ESPN, were gushing over Thomas’ “groundbreaking” achievements and calling any statements to the contrary to be transphobic and hateful, Riley began speaking out. 

Register for an Evening with Riley Gaines

And she has found an appreciative audience. Last week, she was speaking on the campus of UC Davis, near the California capital of Sacramento, when she referred to her cause as spiritual warfare and said it was no longer a battle of good versus bad, right versus wrong, but one of moral versus evil.

Further, Riley argued that the misogynist label belongs to those who disdain women so much they allow men to claim themselves as women and push true women aside in the process. 

The woman has guts. She was out there all alone, but her courageousness has been infectious, allowing other female athletes to speak out against males competing as females. One of those is Paula Scanlan, who was on the UPenn women’s swim team when Thomas was allowed to join their team. Pressured into hiding her true feelings about sharing the locker room with a fully genitally intact male swimmer, Scanlan has found courage from Gaines. 

Hopefully, there will be other female athletes who are willing to speak out against men competing as women and for keeping girls’ and women’s sports for girls and women.

Paula faces a gauntlet of criticism, as has Riley. What these two women need is to know that people support them, that the radical idea that a man can just decide he’s a woman and therefore compete against women is just that – a radical idea, and a deeply flawed and insulting one.

Whether it’s calling out the unfairness of men competing as women, or assigning blame for the October 7thattack on Israel to the actual Hamas terrorists who committed the atrocities, evil must be identified for what it is. Going along with outrageous theories because those who espouse them are loud and extraordinarily arrogant is not the right thing to do. 

Riley Gaines and Paula Scanlan do not go along with those theories. They know truth –real truth, not some subjective truth – and speak it, and they are courageous for doing so.

You have a chance to hear Riley Gaines in person, as she is coming to Alaska on Nov. 17 and 18 to spread the truth and call out evil for what it is.

Tim Barto is a regular contributor to Must Read Alaska, and is vice president at Alaska Family Council, the organization that is bring Riley Gaines to Alaska.

38 COMMENTS

    • Megan Rapino has the “REAL” truth you are looking for and you can TRUST with coaching young girls to play soccer on the field and shower with the boys who like to play soccer with the girls.

      Certainly nothing wrong with that idea…Totally makes sense because it seems to have become the new “normal”.

      • Lordy MA. All I said is I mistrust those so confident in the real truth ( like you actually unless I’m just hung up on your arrogance). For what it’s worth, this liberal believes there are two sexes only.

        • Sanctos, I think the “real truth” in this article refers to eyewitness accounting and experiences of these two ladies. They experienced the chauvinism of being pushed aside, told to smile and take it, while a man was celebrated for a mediocre achievement against an physically weaker opponent.

    • Some “real” truth is obvious and easily discernable. It is also true that some who claim to know (and promote) the truth are liars or deceived by other liars. Discernment takes some intelligence and likely some education. Truth is not defined by the observer – it is objective, not subjective. Truth is not relative. Truth claims can be verified independently of those promoting it. Even proof claims can and should be verified before asserting them as truth. Theories, ideas, and correlations do not establish truth. Even belief systems can be tested for truth claims (yes, I’m a Christian saying this…) independently of the adherents.
      Do the work friend, trust but verify. Let go of your mistrust.

    • Some “real” truth is obvious and easily discernable. It is also true that some who claim to know (and promote) the truth are liars or deceived by other liars. Discernment takes some intelligence and likely some education. Truth is not defined by the observer – it is objective, not subjective. Truth is not relative. Truth claims can be verified independently of those promoting it. Even proof claims can and should be verified before asserting them as truth. Theories, ideas, and correlations do not establish truth. Even belief systems can be tested for truth claims (yes, I’m a Christian saying this…) independently of the adherents.
      Do the work friend, trust but verify. Let go of your mistrust.

    • Some “real” truth is obvious and easily discernible. It is also true that some who claim to know (and promote) the truth are liars or deceived by other liars. Discernment takes some intelligence and likely some education. Truth is not defined by the observer – it is objective, not subjective. Truth is not relative. Truth claims can be verified independently of those promoting it. Even proof claims can and should be verified before asserting them as truth. Theories, ideas, and correlations do not establish truth. Even belief systems can be tested for truth claims (yes, I’m a Christian saying this…) independently of the adherents.
      Do the work friend, trust but verify. Let go of your mistrust.

  2. That’s not allowed in Grandpa Bloodstains America.

    Besides, the left has made it clear the best woman for any job is…a man.

  5. Homophobic and transphobic are labels to be worn with pride (normal pride, not the deviant kind with the rainbow flags) because it indicates that you, the labeled, might actually be a normal human being. The queers and freaks throw these positive descriptors around like insults not understanding that they’re actually compliments.

  6. Riley Gaines is a hero and deserves credit in this insane world the leftist democrats have created. The question is, why are the rest of the women okay with this insanity.

    • Hi AP. not all women are athletes, especially at highly visible level. I would venture to say that most (over 50% and probably much higher) agree with Riley’s position, but have no real platform to express their support. I definitely support her!
      Also, interesting how the MSM has been silent on the 29 Sep 2023 consensus statement from the American College of Sports Medicine entitled “The Biological Basis of Sex Differences in Athletic Performance: Consensus Statement for the American College of Sports Medicine”. ACSM is the leader in sports medicine research in the U.S. if not the world.

  7. The left has an agenda to destroy “everything” any way they
    can, including women’s sports.

    Riley Gaines and Paula Scanlan are great Americans!

  8. An irony in all this is she’s probably what would have been a flaming liberal 20 years ago.

    Since there is no level of purity high enough for progressives, they continually eat their own.

  10. I’d be worried if a man decided to be a woman and then decided to be an airline pilot , or vice versa . Not sure I’d want to get on that plane . I’d question the mental stability .

  11. Good for her. Meanwhile, I refuse to participate in their fraud, their lie. Calling a trans women a woman is a lie.

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