Rand Paul campaign ad features former UK swimmer, slams transgender athletes, trans women

U.S. Sen. Rand Paul put out a campaign ad Wednesday that opposes transgender athletes' presence in girls' and women's sports − a common talking point for Republican politicians lately, and one they're promoting at a time when many GOP officials and anti-LGBTQ groups are pushing to enact policies that target trans people on and off the field.

The NCAA has allowed trans women to play collegiate-level women's sports for more than a decade. But over the past couple of years especially, right-wing and anti-LGBTQ politicians and groups have moved to restrict trans adults and children's participation in sports and in public life, including their access to gender-affirming care, their ability to use certain public bathrooms and their ability to adjust birth certificates or other documentation to reflect their gender identity.

Paul is up for reelection, and his new TV ad features Riley Gaines, a competitive swimmer who wrapped up her award-filled career as a college athlete at the University of Kentucky this year.

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Gaines tied for fifth place with a trans woman, Lia Thomas, in a March 2022 NCAA championship race and has repeatedly misgendered and criticized Thomas. This month, she appeared in two ads − Paul's, as well as one promoted by the Republican Governors Association − that slam trans athletes' participating in girls' and women's sports.

"I trained from an early age, giving it my all to achieve my dream. And I accomplished it, becoming a 12-time All-American swimmer at the University of Kentucky," Gaines says in Paul's campaign ad.

Then, the ad shows images of Thomas onscreen while Gaines says "that dream is being taken away" for girls across America by trans athletes competing in women's sports.

"But Rand Paul is not afraid to fight for fairness for women and girls, and that's why I'm supporting him," Gaines says.

Paul appears onscreen to say: "I'm Rand Paul, and I approve this message because I'll always fight for fairness."

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Republican politicians have criticized Thomas since she became the first openly trans athlete to win an NCAA Division I national championship. Thomas, who competed for and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania this year, met the requirements to compete.

A member of the transgender community who spoke to The Courier Journal on the condition of anonymity because of fear of repercussions said the opposition to trans people's participation in girls' and women's sports is not really about athletics.

"It's about control," she said. "It's about how many lies that we can tell to marginalize people."

As for whether it's fair to allow trans girls and women to compete, she indicated athletic skill is important and said: "Everybody's body operates a different way. ... I've seen people who were 5'0 beat somebody who was 6'1."

She also said pushback against trans people's participation in athletics is hurtful.

"The damage is: There are families involved in this, there are kids involved in this."

Kentucky's Republican-run legislature passed a ban this year to prevent trans girls and women from playing on girls' and women's school sports teams in grades six through 12 and in college.

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Leading LGBTQ+ and civil rights organizations warned the policy will put trans students' mental health even more at risk. The Trevor Project's 2021 national survey found over half of trans and nonbinary youth seriously considered suicide in the past year.

Amid increasing anti-trans rhetoric and policies across the nation, a prominent children's hospital and its staff recently experienced threats of violence for providing gender-affirming care, and data show killings of transgender and gender nonconforming people − and particularly of Black trans women − have risen over the past several years.

Coinciding with the release of Paul's campaign ad Wednesday morning, the senator appeared with Gaines on Fox News, during which he said he was "proud of Riley for standing up."

Paul also said: "But I think there's actually sort of a silent, growing number of women who are moderate or independent or even liberal that have daughters who compete in soccer and swimming and all these different sports who are like: 'This just isn't fair.' ... And this isn't about hate, this is about fairness."

Last month, Paul's wife, Kelley Paul, gave a speech on her husband's behalf at Fancy Farm, Kentucky's long-running political picnic, during which she made multiple comments critical of LGBTQ people.

Chris Hartman of the Fairness Campaign, a Kentucky LGBTQ advocacy organization, criticized Paul's campaign ad and said this is a "nationally fabricated issue."

“While I'm flattered that Sen. Paul would entitle his ad ‘Fairness’ in acknowledgement of how popular the brand is around the state, what his message is about is downright discrimination," he said.

Hartman said of Gaines and her appearance in Paul's ad: "It’s a shame that this swimmer has sought a moment in the spotlight after having been recruited by national conservative think tanks because she just had to share a podium with Lia Thomas. Lia Thomas didn’t even beat her − they tied."

Reach reporter Morgan Watkins at mwatkins@courierjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter: @morganwatkins26.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Rand Paul, Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines attack trans athletes in ad