Riley Gaines criticizes Penn State and claims school canceled her event

Women’s rights activist Riley Gaines slammed Pennsylvania State University over a September video featuring the school president supporting free speech on campus, claiming an event she was scheduled to attend at the school had been canceled.

Gaines, a former swimmer who now advocates keeping transgender athletes out of women’s sports, stated online that Penn State had canceled an event scheduled for Tuesday where she was supposed to deliver a speech and shared the recent video of the school president discussing the importance of free speech. In the video, Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi claims the school will host speakers who could be considered controversial because the speaker “espouses ideas that are actively hateful.” However, Bendapudi never mentions Gaines.

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“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 (X/X),” Gaines wrote on social media on Monday evening. “Have it your way. See ya tomorrow with a soap box and megaphone, Penn State!”

The video featuring Bendapudi also had the school president encourage students who disliked certain speakers to “speak out clearly and firmly” and that the school supports those who wish to protest about a speaker they dislike, because “rejecting hate-filled speech is the responsibility of everyone.” The video was posted to the university’s website on Sept. 11, a month before Gaines was supposed to visit the school, though the school told the Washington Examiner that the school “was not referring to any particular speaker.”

Gaines’s appearance at the school on Tuesday is Oct. 10, which Gaines’s has declared as “Real Women’s Day.” Her reasoning behind selecting Oct. 10 specifically is because the date is 10/10, or X/X, which are the chromosomes that make up a woman.

Penn State has denied that it canceled any event involving Gaines and said that Turning Point USA, the group bringing Gaines to the campus, failed to meet the deadline to submit required documents to reserve indoor space at the school. The group then decided to host the event outdoors, and that, as late as last week, it had no confirmation that Gaines would actually attend the event; the school then received a confirmation early Tuesday morning.

“University leaders learned Monday evening via social media that Gaines is coming to the University Park campus on Oct. 10,” a statement from the school read. “Penn State staff are in contact with the student organization to take steps to create a safe environment for the event, consistent with university policies and the First Amendment.”

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Gaines has made a name for herself in voicing her support for Republican lawmakers that pass legislation preventing transgender athletes from competing against women in sporting events. On Thursday, she joined student-athletes at Roanoke College in Virginia to protest the school’s decision to allow a trans person to join the women’s swim team; the trans student has since left the roster.

The Washington Examiner contacted Turning Point USA for comment.