Prairie State Wire

Illinois GOP Chairman Don Tracy recently noted the case of a downstate YMCA swimmer. He said that more Illinoisans should put their support behind the state’s girls.

“We unfortunately face another example of Illinois Democrat policies that are out of touch with Illinois families,” Tracy said in his weekly memo. “An Illinois teenager, Abbigail Wheeler, a swimmer of the Springfield YMCA SPY swim team, voiced concerns to her swim coach about biological males identifying as transgender women being allowed in the girls’ locker room and was kicked off the team for speaking out.”

The 16-year-old Wheeler was accused of hate speech by a Springfield YMCA coach for speaking out against biological men being allowed in the girls’ locker room, the memo reported. But she was not the only one who encountered that situation.

“To make matters worse, Abbigail’s older sister Kaitlynn Wheeler experienced the exact same thing with the infamous Lia Thomas, a biological male swimmer who ruined women’s sports by stealing a national title from hardworking and deserving women,” Tracy said. “Parents shouldn't have to worry about their children feeling unsafe and their opportunities being denied due to Illinois Democrat policies. Elections have consequences as Illinois Democrat policies promote prohibiting transgender use of a facility constitutes gender identity discrimination. In support of saving women’s sports, the Independent Women’s Forum and Illinois Freedom Caucus hosted a Press Conference to stand with Abbigail and to keep women’s spaces female.”

The Wheeler family and supporters attended a July 13 press conference that was held on the issue. Concerns have been raised about the potential infringement upon the rights of female athletes, as well as the potential for privacy violations and discomfort for the girls involved.

“On May 24, 2023, at the beginning of the normal swim team practice, coach Totura and Kenzie Primus, Branch Director of the Kerasotes Branch (westside) pulled all the girls aside for a meeting to discuss the hanging of the signs,” Breakthrough Ideas reported a father of one of the girls saying. “They indicated that this was not acceptable, and it was 'hate speech.' My daughter approached the coach Totura immediately after the meeting and indicated that she was involved in the hanging of the signs. She said that she did this because her previous attempts to correct this were dismissed by the YMCA staff and her coach. Coach Totura said that this was hate speech; she was not allowed to participate with the swim team; and was asked to leave the pool area.”

Former NCAA swimmer Riley Gaines noted the case in a July 9 Twitter post.

“16-yo girl banned from YMCA and kicked off her swim team for opposing a naked male in their locker room,” Gaines said in the tweet. “And to make matters worse, her older sister had to go through the exact same thing with Lia Thomas. But it's ‘not really happening’….”