Former University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines described the "traumatic" experience she and other female athletes endured while sharing a locker room with transgender athlete Lia Thomas at the NCAA championships and the violent backlash she has faced since speaking out Tuesday before Congress.

"The overwhelming majority of us, girls, felt so uncomfortable. We felt betrayed. We felt belittled," Gaines testified before the House Homeland Security Committee Hearing On Left-Wing Organized Violence.

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"Of course, in the locker room, especially, it's awkward. It's embarrassing. It's, again, it's this feeling of, the best word to describe it is traumatic. No one protected us. No one stood up for us, and so, that's exactly why I'm doing what I'm doing."

Gaines' newfound role as an advocate for women's sports is not one that she sought out, and it's not something she wants to be doing, she testified.

Her experience in the locker room with Thomas sends a message that girls in sports do not matter, according to Gaines.

"Our safety, our privacy, it doesn't matter," she said. "We should smile and step aside and allow these men into our space, or else you're a bigot."

Gaines then described the experience of being forced to strip her clothes, along with her fellow female athletes, in front of Thomas.

"We were not forewarned we would be sharing a changing space," she testified. "No one told us. No one asked for our consent. We did not give our consent to undress in front of a male. Yet, the only time we became aware of this is when it was presented in front of us, and it was too late.

"So, what that kind of looked like, in the vein of being extremely transparent, a 6-foot-4, he's actually taller than 6-foot-1, a 6-foot-4 male walks in, disrobes and is fully intact with male genitalia, while we're simultaneously undressing."

Gaines and her fellow female competitors were powerless to stop the situation, she testified.

"I actually immediately left the locker room, and I went up to one of the officials on the pool deck, and I said, 'How is this allowed to happen? I understand the guidelines for the competition, but what are the guidelines in regards to the locker room?'" Gaines recalled.

"He looks at me, and, word for word, he says, 'Oh, we actually got around this by making the locker rooms unisex. So, it's not a big deal.'"

Gaines interpreted the official's words to mean that any man could walk into her changing space.

"Lia Thomas' teammates, who dealt with this every single day, all year, when they expressed their discomfort to their administration, and they sent an email, and I swear I have a screenshot of their response. Their administration responded back with, 'If you feel uncomfortable seeing male genitalia, here are some counseling resources that you should see.'"

This attitude is the general consensus of what's happening around the country, according to Gaines, and it has been the impetus behind her traveling to college campuses around the country to share her experiences.

At many of these campus events, Gaines has been met with far-left protesters seeking to either drown her out or force her to leave.

Her experience on April 6 at San Francisco State University is a prime example.

Gaines's visit had been shared with students by the school's administration, and she was told she would meet with campus police to discuss security, she said.

However, once she was there, she found herself without support, Gaines testified.

"I went to the classroom building where I was supposed to speak, which was on the third floor, and I entered the room, which soon began to fill with protesters. Still, the campus officers did not show like I was told they would."

As she conducted her speech, she could hear "chanting outside in the hallway, which caused a great deal of concern," Gaines said.

"We fight back!" the chants rang out, and Gaines began to fear for her safety. That's when protesters inside the room opened the door, and more protesters began to "flood in," she said.

"They rushed at me with fists raised, most shouting and angry faces coming around me. They flickered the lights and, ultimately, turned the lights off," Gaines testified. "The room filled with glares of cellphone flashlights, some in my face, and I realized I was at the mercy of the crowd, and I was assaulted."

A woman who claimed to be campus police ushered her out of the room, with Gaines fearing for her life, she said.

"Once we made it into the hallway, we were met with an even larger mob blocking the stairway exit, ultimately forcing us to barricade ourselves into an office," Gaines testified.

That small room would be her "prison" for three hours, according to Gaines.

"I was certainly held against my will," she said. "The mob screamed vengeful, racist, violent, awful things at both myself and the officers, and I received no assurance that I would get out of that situation."

The protesters demanded a ransom for her release, Gaines said.

"I heard an adult administrator, who I learned to be the dean of students, from outside the door trying to negotiate my release with the students," she testified.

"They said my appearance on campus was so traumatic that they were owed something," she added. "They were under the false notion that the university paid me to be there, therefore, they only thought it was fair that I should pay them if I wanted to leave."

In the wake of the incident, members of the SFSU administration lauded the protesters, whom Gaines alleges held her hostage, as representatives of free speech and the right to protest peacefully.

Gaines condemned that position.

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"What I saw was not peaceful by any means," she testified. "The vice president released an email to their student body applauding, word-for-word, 'I applaud the tremendously brave student who behaved the way they did.'

"When I read this, knowing what I know what I went through, seeing what I saw, that was not peaceful ... To applaud that behavior from an institution of higher education is chilling. It's terrifying that that is something we're encouraging, we're celebrating. By no means did they say we uphold the freedom of speech or condemn violence."