On Oct. 28, professional athlete and political figure Riley Gaines gave a speech in Trinity University’s Chapman Auditorium. Gaines’ rhetoric sparked a protest in favor of transgender rights.

As part of her “Take Back Title IX: Tour,” hosted by the Young Conservatives of Texas (YCT) Trinity chapter, Gaines spoke on the recent changes in Title IX regulations and how it has impacted her and other student athletes.

“In short, what the Biden-Harris administration has done is equate sex with gender identity, meaning they are the same thing … which would allow men to take academic and athletic scholarships away from women. It would allow men full access and entry into bathrooms, locker rooms, changing spaces on college campuses. … It means your speech would be compelled, so you would be forced to use the biologically incorrect pronouns,” Gaines said. “All of those things I of course oppose, as do most common-sense Americans.”

The 2024 Title IX regulations Gaines is referring to are currently not in place in the state of Texas or at Trinity, due to an ongoing lawsuit. Gaines has traveled to 17 colleges and universities in the past few months as part of her tour. When asked who she was taking Title IX back from, she discussed that the US government is not representing women’s rights.

“When you conflate sex and gender identity or say you protect both of those things, you cannot protect both of those things at the same time, and that is what our federal law implies right now. They are in direct conflict,” Gaines said. “What we are seeing is not progress. It is utterly regressive and deeply misogynistic.”

The week prior to Gaines’s appearance, YCT hosted daily tabling events promoting the event. Students could throw a ball into a net or answer polls, such as whether “biological men” should be in women’s sports. Clayton Lansford, sophomore engineering and physics double-major, spoke on behalf of YCT as chapter chairman.

“My goal as president is to try to get big name speakers. Riley Gaines is a big name speaker in the conservative movement, so just even the opportunity to have her come is great,” Langsford said.

While YCT worked to promote engagement in support of the event, other students sought to promote their own event. Leaders of PRIDE and Trinity University Progressives organized a protest. An Instagram post by PRIDE (@pride_at_trinity) generated mass attention with over 27,000 views. The post urged people to participate in the protest and sign up for the event in order to fill seats that would otherwise seat supporters.

The proposition was met with mixed responses. Many supporters signed up for the event in solidarity with the club. However, other students accused the organizing members of limiting freedom of speech. Zoe Flores, senior anthropology major and co-president of TU Progressives, refutes the accusation.

“We are not limiting their free speech. Taking up a seat in a room is not speech. At the end of the day, if they wanted to reach bigger, they could have asked for a bigger room. We are not limiting anyone,” Flores said.

YCT worked with the school to uncap the sign-up. The event changed to a first-come, first-serve in which anyone could RSVP beforehand. Clayton Langsford found the protest efforts to be weak.

“Protests in general I think are good. It’s freedom of expression. But I will say, with [what] the PRIDE club and I think the Progressive club as well are doing is a bit lazy. They tried to reserve all our seats instead of protesting, which is just lazy and not even really a protest, it is just kind of sabotaging the event,” Langston said.

PRIDE President Catherine Zarr*, junior political science and Spanish double-major, argued that their efforts are much more than simply reserving seats. In her opinion, their efforts defended transgender rights.

“We are doing this event because we feel very strongly that the level of transphobia that Riley Gaines has demonstrated throughout her tour and speaking at events like this is really unacceptable, and it is really harmful to trans people,” Zarr said. “We want to show the university and anyone attending that that is not okay.”

Riley Gaines emphasized that her stance was not anti-trans, but pro-women. She stated that her position was not about transgender people, but biological women.

“This isn’t about trans who identify as trans. This is about men. And if you have gone through male puberty, you are a male. … The stance that I have taken is not a stance against anyone. It’s not against Lia Thomas. It’s not against anyone here that is protesting me. They have every right to be here just as I have every right to be here,” Gaines said.

Outside of the event itself, students gathered with signs, displaying messages in support of transgender rights. Gaines shared an anecdote with the crowd about an interaction between a protester and her.

“When I pulled up to the protestors, there was only one outside. Obviously I was wearing this shirt, it was pretty obvious that this was me. And, the woman is holding her flag and she has no one beside her yet. And, she waves very kindly. And I wave back. I went ‘oh my gosh, I don’t even know. That’s kind of sweet. I kind of like that.’ So, I think all that to say, people can be cowards,” Gaines said.

In the Chapman Auditorium, the room started at full-capacity. Before Gaines was brought on, Dean Jessica Edonick asked that spectators remove any flags or signs taped to their bodies. This request was met with resistance, as students claimed it was well within their rights to wear the accessories.

At the end of her speech, Gaines opened up her discussion to questions. Quite a few students lined up and asked Gaines many different inquiries ranging from how they could become activists to how Gaines defined the gender barriers, including intersexuality.

“I appreciate everyone who attended or tried to attend. Hopefully, we will have some more big name speakers come in the future. I am happy if anyone attended and learned something. Or even, just solidified their belief. But just listened and had an open mind. That’s all you can ask,” Langston said.

*Catherine Zarr is the Editor-in-Chief of the Trinitonian. She recused herself from editing this story and did not read it prior to publication. In her interview, a third-party moderator was present to further prevent bias.