NEWYou can now listen to PK Press Club articles!
A little over a year ago, Simone Biles arrived at Riley Gaines.
In now-infamous This sparked the biggest flashpoint in pop culture in the “Save Women’s Sports” movement.
Now, a little more than a year later, Gaines has a close ally in MyKayla Skinner, Biles’ former U.S. Olympic gymnastics team teammate. Gaines and Skinner celebrated the Supreme Court’s decision Tuesday to uphold state laws that protect women’s sports and sent a message to Biles a year after the infamous social media feud.
SUPREME COURT RULING ON TRANS ATHLETES IN WOMEN’S SPORT
Mykayla Skinner and Simone Biles of Team USA pose for a photo during women’s podium training ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Ariake Gymnastics Center on July 22, 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. (Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
“Just trying to find my voice and figure out how to use it after Simone spoke out against Riley, it really affected me,” Skinner said. “I have a little girl and we hope to get her into sports soon, and I really want her to have everything I have, every opportunity.”
Skinner, who won an Olympic silver medal on vault at the Tokyo Games, said his own sporting career had shaped his outlook on the issue.
“I’ve broken records, I’ve been to the Olympics, I’ve been a college athlete and I want her to have the opportunities that I had,” Skinner said of her daughter. “And so, for me, it was a way for me to feel like this was my time to stand up for what I believe in, to stand with Riley and join in this fight.”
Skinner then turned his attention directly to Biles.
“I think it would be really cool to see Simone alongside us,” Skinner said. “She’s one of the best athletes in the world.”
Skinner said she wants to see more elite female athletes join Gaines, XX-XY Athletics founder Jennifer Sey and others in the movement.
“To be able to see her as my teammate, as an Olympian, as an incredible athlete that she is, to be able to stand alongside us and fight alongside Riley and everyone else on this road,” Skinner said. “I would love, I would love to see my teams, especially Simone, in sync with us.”
Gaines, a former University of Kentucky swimmer who became one of the most prominent advocates for transgender athletes in women’s sports after tying transgender swimmer Lia Thomas at the 2022 NCAA Championships, previously called on Biles to stand with him on the issue in a March interview with PK Press Club Digital, months before Biles’ social media attack.
Gaines renewed her call for Biles, along with Caitlin Clark and Sophie Cunningham, to stand with her, following Tuesday’s SCOTUS decision.
“Let this be a clarion call, not just to Simone, but to all elite female athletes, especially professional athletes, like Caitlin Clark and Sophie Cunningham, Serena Williams, to join arms,” Gaines said.
Gaines added that the decision made her feel “absolutely vindicated.”
“I feel excited for sure, I feel optimistic about the future,” Gaines said. “But I think the feeling I feel the most is justified.
“As a mom, I look at her and think about the country and the world that I want her to inherit,” Gaines said of her daughter. “It is a world, a country that is fairer, more secure, more prosperous and more opportunistic.”
“Let it be known that you also believe that young girls deserve to one day call themselves champions,” Gaines added.
Biles’ feud with Gaines began on June 6, 2025, after Gaines called attention to a biologically male transgender softball pitcher who helped a Minnesota girls team win a state championship. Biles called Gaines “really sick,” a “sore loser” and a “bully,” and later suggested that Gaines was “the same size” as a man, according to PK Press Club Digital. Biles later deleted the messages and apologized.
The feud also became a turning point for Skinner.
Skinner previously endured her own public clash with Biles after posting a video about the 2024 U.S. women’s Olympic gymnastics team and making comments about the team’s “talent and depth.” Biles responded at the time with the following message: “Not everyone needs a mic and a platform,” and Skinner later apologized, saying her remarks had been misinterpreted. Skinner told PK Press Club Digital last year that backlash included death threats and messages saying she “shouldn’t be a mom.”
Skinner then joined XX-XY Athletics as an ambassador for the brand’s “Gold Medal Campaign,” aligning herself with Gaines, Sey, Olympic swimmer Nancy Hogshead and other prominent activists in the “Save Women’s Sports” space.
“SAVES WOMEN’S SPORTS” CULTURAL WAR TIMELINE 2025 – THE YEAR THE TIDES TURNED
Riley Gaines, Simone Biles, MyKayla Skinner (Getty Images)
When asked if she thought Biles really meant what she said to Gaines last year, Skinner didn’t hesitate.
“100% yes,” Skinner said. “I’ve known Simone since I was 13, and we had our moments. There were times where she put me down as an athlete, as a person, as a victim of bullying. And so it wasn’t a shock to me when she spoke out against Riley.”
Skinner said she thought Biles “remained firm” in his position, but hoped that could change.
“Being at this level and being a mom, we look up to these amazing athletes,” Skinner said. “I really think she’s not on this side with us, and I’d really like to see her come forward and maybe change her mind.”
Gaines agreed that Biles’ initial comments reflected his true opinions, while suggesting that the subsequent apology seemed more like a PR cleanup.
“You might even notice the very obvious shift in tone between the initial tweet or two and the very coded apology by ChatGPT,” Gaines said.
Gaines said she accepted Biles’ apology and would still be willing to “link arms” with the Olympic gymnastics legend.
“It’s kind of like water off the duck’s back,” Gaines said.
But Gaines said she thinks the backlash Biles faced after his posts may have revealed a cultural shift on the issue.
“I think it took that for him to realize, ‘Oh damn, I think I was living in my own little bubble here,'” Gaines said. “Maybe the people I’ve surrounded myself with think that, but the majority of Americans don’t.”
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE PK Press Club APP
The Supreme Court’s decision does not require every state or school to ban transgender athletes in girls’ and women’s sports. The court said the cases did not ask the separate question of whether schools could allow biological males who identify as females to compete on girls’ and women’s teams.
But for Gaines and Skinner, Tuesday’s ruling marked a defining legal victory — and another opportunity to pressure some of the biggest names in women’s sports to choose a side.
