Former college swimmer Riley Gaines received a less-than-warm welcome from Penn State University as she kicked off the first Real Women’s Day.
Two protesters were detained Tuesday by police after flipping an information table and knocking over items at the event, which was held outdoors after Penn State officials said those sponsoring Ms. Gaines had failed to meet the deadline for reserving an indoor room.
The women’s sports advocate delivered her remarks anyway, using a bullhorn to be heard over noisy transgender rights demonstrators who chanted “trans lives matter” and mocked the 12-time All-American swimmer by shouting “can’t swim.”
“We have people flipping tables and being arrested and protesting — for what?” Ms. Gaines told the crowd outside the Henderson Building on the campus in State College, Pennsylvania. “Again, let me reiterate: for saying men are men and women are women.”
The Penn State appearance was one of 50 events held Tuesday on college campuses for the inaugural Real Women’s Day, an event launched by Ms. Gaines as a counter to celebrations of women that include honoring men who identify as women.
Those attending in support of Real Women’s Day included Republican state Sen. Cris Dush and state Reps. Dawn Keefer and Barbara Gleim, according to the Independent Women’s Forum.
Supporters held up signs that said “XX=Women,” referring to both the date, Oct. 10, which is XX in Roman numerals, and the female chromosome.
Ms. Gaines, who tied for fifth with transgender swimmer Lia Thomas at the 2022 NCAA Division I women’s swimming championships, urged people to stop using “biological male” to refer to men who identify as women.
“If I could give you guys any advice, stop saying biological woman, stop saying biological man, biological male or biological female. That distinction is unnecessary,” she said. “There is just male and female, man and woman, mother and father, girl and boy. Stop with the biological nonsense.”
Organizers set up a net and a radar clock to time how fast men and women could throw baseballs.
“At Penn State, the fastest man threw a baseball 64 mph, and the fastest woman threw 32 mph,” said Ms. Gaines, as shown in an IWF video. “Which is exactly the point I’m trying to make.”
Getting to Penn State was a saga in itself. The student group Turning Point USA submitted paperwork to have Ms. Gaines speak at an indoor forum, but the university said the students “did not meet the deadline for submitting the required reservation documents — an expectation upheld for any recognized student organization at Penn State.”
“No event featuring Riley Gaines has ever been canceled at Penn State,” the university said.
Ms. Gaines disputed the Penn State explanation, saying school officials waited until after the deadline to contact organizers. She also said that the Leadership Institute, which hosts the Riley Gaines Center, also applied for a room, but that their request was rejected over “staffing issues and risk management.”
She said she then reserved a conference room at a local hotel, but that it was canceled after the hotel learned that she was the speaker.
“Civil discourse and freedom of speech are critical for academic institutions like Penn State to embrace and uphold,” Ms. Gaines said afterward in a statement. “Without them, we will never find common ground and solutions to issues. We must hold those who seek to silence and cancel accountable.”
The university said Wednesday that “two non-student individuals were removed from the event yesterday and will be issued summary citations.”
Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi posted a video Sept. 11 explaining to students unfamiliar with the First Amendment why “objectionable” speakers cannot be banned from the public school’s campus.
“We all wish to be on a campus where we are free to express our own beliefs and perspectives, but restricting the speech of one group or individual jeopardizes everyone’s rights, because the same laws or regulations used to silence bigots can be used to silence you,” Ms. Bendapudi said.
She went on to urge students to “speak up, clearly and firmly, against hateful speech.”
“Hurtful rhetoric causes real fear and anxiety among our community, and those individuals need our support,” Ms. Bendapudi said.
Ms. Gaines described the president’s free-speech defense as ironic.
“No way President of Penn State makes a whole video explaining why public institutions are legally obligated to let ‘bigots’ apparently like me on campus to speak, then proceeds to CANCEL my speech tomorrow for real women’s day,” she posted Monday on X.
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.