Riley Gaines Reveals how Conservatives are Targeted in Colleges

After the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, his friend and fellow conservative influencer Riley Gaines is speaking out about her own experience with left-wing campus violence – and what comes next for conservatives on college campuses.

Gaines said that at a 2023 Turning Point USA event at San Francisco State University, radical trans student activists attacked her and forced her to take refuge in a classroom for hours as university police failed to disperse the hostile crowd. The former NCAA swimmer, who rose to prominence in 2022 for speaking out about her experience competing against transgender swimmer Lia Thomas, said that a mob of protesters stormed the event, disrupted her with aggressive chanting, flickered the lights and surrounded her.

"I [was] so disoriented, you have men and dresses and women with beards. I'm confused, fists are flying in my face," Gaines, who is a host of her own Outkick show, told Fox News Digital.

The conservative activist said that a plainclothes police officer pulled her out of the scrum and through a back exit into a hallway, where even more protesters were waiting. She said she took refuge in a nearby classroom for hours into the night as demonstrators gathered outside.

Gaines told Fox News Digital that protesters demanded money if she wanted "to see my family again," and the campus cops failed to disperse the crowd, allegedly saying they couldn’t be seen as antagonistic to the transgender community.   

"I was scared. I was scared for my life. I broke down in tears and I looked at the officer and I said, ‘I just want to go home,’ and he looked at me and he said, ‘that's a bit selfish, don't you think we want to home too?’" Gaines told Fox News Digital