My sense of safety was violated: Former NCAA swimmer Kylee Alons
Former NCAA swimmer Kylee Alons and Concerned Women for America CEO Penny Nance discuss this topic on 'The Ingraham Angle.'
Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., met with N.C. State swimming star Kylee Alons on Wednesday, and he wrote on social media that she told him a story from the 2022 NCAA Championships.
Steube said Alons told him that she decided to change in a storage closet instead of out in the open because Lia Thomas was allowed to change in the women’s locker room.
"Today I met with Kylee, the most decorated swimmer in NC State history," Steube tweeted. "She told me how she changed in a storage closet at the NCAA finals rather than experience the sexual harassment that comes with undressing in front of Will ‘Lia’ Thomas – a biological male who insisted on being in the female locker room."
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Alons was in her senior year with the Wolfpack when she participated in the NCAA Championships. Thomas became the first transgender woman to win a national title that season.
Alons, who wrapped up her collegiate career this year after opting into her fifth season, was a two-time national champion, having won the 400 medley relay and the 200 medley relay in 2021. She was also a 31-time All-American and five-time ACC champion during her collegiate career.
North Carolina State swimmers Katharine Berkoff and Sophie Sansson and Abby Arens and Kylee Alons hold up their second place trophies in the 200 medley relay at the NCAA Women’s Swimming & Diving Championship at Georgia Tech in Atlanta March 16, 2022. (Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports)
Steube’s tweet about Alons’ story came on the heels of Riley Gaines’ emotional testimony at the Senate hearing on "Protecting Pride: Defending the Civil Rights of LGBTQ+ Americans."
Gaines got emotional when talking about having to share a locker room with Thomas.
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North Carolina State swimmers Katharine Berkoff and Sophie Sansson and Abby Arens and Kylee Alons hold up their second place trophies in the 200 medley relay at the NCAA Women’s Swimming & Diving Championship at Georgia Tech in Atlanta March 16, 2022. (Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports)
"But that is not all. In addition to being forced to give up our awards and our titles and our opportunities, the NCAA forced me and my female swimmers to share a locker room with Thomas," Gaines said. "A 6-foot-4, 22-year-old male equipped with and exposed male genitalia. Let me be clear about this – we were not forewarned we would be sharing a locker room. No one asked for our consent and we did not give our consent."
Gaines, who is the Independent Women's Voice advisor, said she hoped the lawmakers at the hearing could see that it was a violation of their privacy, and "how some of us felt uncomfortable, embarrassed and even traumatized by this experience."
"I know that I don’t speak for every single person who competed against Lia Thomas but I know I speak for many because I saw the tears," she said. "I saw the tears from the ninth and 17th place finishers who missed out on being named an All-American by one place. I can attest to the extreme discomfort in the locker room from these 18–22-year-old girls when you turn around and there’s male eyes watching in that same room.
"And I can attest to the whispers and the grumbles of anger and frustration from these girls who just like myself worked their entire lives to get to this meet. I can attest to the fact that around the country these female athletes who opposed the inclusion of Lia Thomas in the women’s division were threatened, intimidated and emotionally blackmailed into silence and submission."
Gaines then responded to Steube’s tweet early Thursday.
Kylee Alons competes in the preliminary heats of the Women's 100 Yard Freestyle during the Division I Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships held at the Greensboro Aquatic Center on March 20, 2021 in Greensboro, North Carolina. (Mike Comer/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)
"She & her teammates changed in a JANITORS CLOSET because it felt safer than changing in a locker room where an intact male would simultaneously be undressing," Gaines wrote.
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"Ive looked up to Kylee for a long time given how fast she is, but even more so now she's speaking out #SaveWomensSports."