Riley Gaines Applauds Oberlin Women's Lax Coach For Breaking Silence After Being 'Burned At The Stake' For Supporting Single-Sex Sports

Up until now, those brave enough to defend women’s sports have primarily been players, former players, or outside media personalities.

But the Independent Women’s Forum revealed Tuesday that, finally, a coach has come forward to speak out against the absurdities of allowing men to compete in women’s sports. Riley Gaines, an advisor at Independent Women’s Voice and OutKick host, posted about the major development on X (formerly Twitter).

Kim Russell, coach of women’s lacrosse at Oberlin College, is the focus of a new Independent Women’s Forum documentary on the dangers of speaking out publicly in favor of single sex sports.

After Lia Thomas won a women’s swimming event, Russell shared an Instagram post congratulating second place swimmer Emma Weyant. She added a personal message saying, “What do you believe? I can’t be quiet on this… I’ve spent my life playing sports, starting & coaching sports programs for girls & women..”

And that’s when her trouble started. Her post was shared with the athletic director at Oberlin by a player on her team. Unsurprisingly for a far left, progressive institution, she was immediately and viciously attacked.

“I was not just chastised,” Russell explained. “I was burned at the stake. I was stoned. I was basically told I was a horrible person, and it was heartbreaking, really.”

Common Sense Positions On Women’s Sports Now Being Punished

The athletic director at Oberlin, Natalie Winkelfoos, told Russell that her comments were a “problem,” and contradicted the school’s beliefs.

“Unfortunately, you fall into a category of people that are filled with hate in the world,” Winkelfoos said.

Players on her women’s lacrosse team also jumped to criticize her with what she described as a “mob mentality.” They forcefully claimed that “a trans woman is a woman,” with only one player speaking up to defend her common sense point of view.

At a multi-hour long meeting where far left players criticized her, Russell was told that her version of feminism wasn’t “inclusive” enough.

“I know that this is probably a shock because now we’re at this stage where, for this generation, it’s not good enough just to work for women’s issues or white feminism. Your feminism has to be inclusive for everybody and work for everybody,” she was told.

While she hasn’t been fired, the climate of fear inherent in progressive institutions is so severe that she’s ready to leave the school. And as is so often the case, it’s yet again proved the hypocrisy of supposedly “tolerant” individuals and universities.

Russell was dragged through the mud, put through multiple meetings and called horrific names, all because she dared to suggest that women compete against women in athletic competitions. A position that was universally supported just a few years ago is now seen as intolerable by the progressive left.

It’s hard to believe. And as sane states and sporting bodies enact rules to prevent transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports, their histrionic anger and misplaced morality will only get worse.