Athletes Taylor Silverman and Riley Gaines will host a protest over the inclusion of male cyclist Austin Killips in the women’s category at the 2023 USA Cycling Pro Road National Championship on Sunday, according to reports.
Killips is a biological male who has claimed to “transition” to a female and has been competing in cycle races as a woman for several years, racking up a growing number of wins in the female category.
The cyclist claiming to be a transgender woman most recently won the women’s title at the Belgian Waffle Ride North Carolina on June 10.
It was a win that tennis legend Martina Navratilova denounced as a “joke.”
Killips’ wins have spurred skateboarder champion Taylor Silverman and former NCAA swimming champion Riley Gaines to protest the USA Cycling event for allowing Killips to compete as a woman.
“I hope that UCI and USA Cycling hears us and decides to change the rules that currently allow male athletes like Killips to compete in the women’s division because it’s simply unfair,” Silverman said, according to Outkick. “And it is not right that the women have to miss out on their opportunities because of one person’s feelings.”
Silverman says that she lost qualifying positions because men claiming to be women competed in her category.
Come join us at the Pro National Women’s Cycling Championship in Knoxville Tennessee this weekend! Rally and press conference will take place at 1:30 pm on June 25th at Pat Summitt Plaza. @IWF @IWN @Riley_Gaines_ @ithompsonfdn @PaulaYScanlan @barbara_ehardt pic.twitter.com/6WvaWpGiqX
— Taylor Silverman (@tmsilverman) June 20, 2023
“Two of those times, I actually got bumped out of first place into second, and I’ve also lost out on prize money,” Silverman said during an appearance on Fox Business Network. “I understood that this was not fair. It was wrong, so I reached out to contest organizers after the third contest, and it was with Red Bull. So I reached out to them and raised my concerns, and they completely ignored me, which led me to share my story on social media where I truly began to understand how big of an issue this was.”
Silverman added that she was attacked for raising issues of transgender athletes in women’s sports.
“I get hundreds of thousands of messages every month from people thanking me for speaking up, whether that be female athletes, parents, coaches,” Silverman said.
But she also added that she has seen supporters, too, noting, “I’ve gotten everything from job offers to marriage proposals. So, there are people who are very grateful that I’m using my voice on this issue.”
Gaines, of course, has been an extremely outspoken advocate for banning men claiming to be women from competing in women’s sports. Breitbart Sports has detailed many of Gaines’ actions to protect women’s sports.
Gaines also specifically blasted USA Cycling and Austin Killips after the recent win in North Carolina and advised women to “start taking a knee” and refusing to participate in competitions where men are entered as women.
Next weekend is the Pro National Cycling Championship in Knoxville. Join us in Sunday June 25th @ 1:30pm at Pat Summit Plaza for the rally to #SaveWomensSports featuring @iwn @Riley_Gaines_ @ithompsonfdn @PaulaYScanlan and more! pic.twitter.com/fb7EFTnqjW
— Jill Savage (@Jill_Savage) June 17, 2023
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