
Anti-trans activist and fifth-place swimmer Riley Gaines is getting attention on social media after she made a video complaining that her dream of going to dentistry school was ruined by pro-trans university officials.
In a video produced by the anti-trans clothing brand XX-XY, Gaines complained that she has been “silenced” by LGBTQ+ rights activists and woke university administrators, despite the fact that she has spun the 15 minutes of fame she got when she tied for fifth place at a swim meet with a trans woman in 2022 into a career in right-wing punditry.
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“For daring to say that men and women are different, I’ve lost friends, of course, the media has been dishonest about me, I’ve been called every name in the book,” she says in the video.
“My university told me I’d never get a job,” she claimed. “No employer would ever hire me because they would look me up and see that I’m a transphobe.”
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“They knew I wanted to go to dental school, and they said that I would never get into a dental school. No dental school would ever even look at my application if I spoke up about this.”
Gaines has spoken in the past about her dream of attending dental school, telling the college sports website Your Sports Edge in 2021 that she hoped to do so.
It’s unclear if Gaines ever tried to become a dentist, or if the unnamed administrators’ alleged comments turned her into a quitter.
Since college, Gaines has appeared on Fox News; had her name as a byline on several books; started hawking supplements, financial services, and ivermectin; and gone on speaking tours. Mother Jones reported in 2024 that she charges as much as $25,000 for appearances.
On X, people argued that Gaines has not been silenced and that she, in fact, has a larger platform than most people.
No fifth place swimmer has ever been less silenced in the history of anything https://t.co/Brmi64xr3g
— Ari Drennen (@AriDrennen) March 23, 2026
Silenced??? I wake up every single day wishing she would shut the fuck up there isn’t a silent thing about this woman https://t.co/bvZNOCnMoP
— liz
Source: LGBTQ Nation