The former coach of the Oberlin College women’s lacrosse team produced recordings of her bosses demanding she stop talking about menstruation for fear of offending trans women.
Kim Russell had been at the center of an ongoing conflict. with Oberlin officials after she posted her personal views on transgender swimmer Lia Thomas winning a 2022 NCAA championship in March of last year.
Since then she became an ambassador for the Independent Women’s Forum, but did not leave the liberal enclave before registering part of the disciplinary process.
Russell posted one of the recordings, which resurfaced on social media earlier this week, where she spoke to Natalie Winkelfoos, the school’s associate vice president of athletics, about a coach she had hired to talk about menstruation.
Winkelfoos is heard telling Russell that the ‘point talk’, as she put it, was ‘a boundary we should have discussed as a team, if everyone was comfortable with it.’
The former coach of the Oberlin College women’s lacrosse team produced recordings of her bosses demanding she stop talking about menstruation for fear of offending trans women.
An anonymous Oberlin lacrosse player also accuses her of not thinking about “reasons why someone might not get their period or have a good relationship with it.”
Russell simply felt that this lacrosse coach could be useful to the team.
‘I brought someone who specializes in women [menstrual] cycle,” Russell said.
“And she’s a lacrosse coach, so she would help us with plays or drills and I got great feedback from the players on the team while she was here.”
Russell was eventually removed from her position on the team, which is now being coached by an interim replacement.
He had republished a headline jokingly congratulating NCAA silver medalist Emma Weyant on being the true winner of the championship, after placing behind Thomas in the 2022 competition.
‘What do you think? “I can’t stay silent about this…I have spent my life playing sports, starting and coaching sports programs for girls and women…” she wrote.
His post sparked an internal controversy at Oberlin, prompting administrators to intervene and lash out at the coach.
Russell has documented the hyper-progressive university’s reaction to his position that only biological women should compete in women’s sports.
Russell said she felt harassed and “burned at the stake” by university administrators who reprimanded her for expressing her position on women’s sports.
In a conversation with administrators, which Russell recorded, Winkelfoos said, “Unfortunately, you fall into the category of people who are full of hate in the world.”
Emma Weyant came in second to Thomas, who was born male but began transitioning as a teenager.
Creg Jantz, senior associate director of athletics, told Russell, “It’s acceptable to have your own opinions, but when they go against the beliefs of Oberlin College, it’s a problem for your employment.”
Russell says he has not spoken to any of them since the saga broke.
‘I spoke to the sports director when she presented me with the new position they offered me.
“At first they told me all these things, that I fall into a hate group, that people call me transphobic, transgressive and insecure.”
‘My office was a place of comfort, a place where people could come and cry, be loved and receive support.
‘I have been surprised by the continued increase in biological males playing women’s and girls’ sports.
Russell talked about transgender swimmer Lia Thomas winning an NCAA championship, beating her biologically female competitors in a situation the lacrosse coach believes is wrong. Thomas (left) is pictured during a competition in which she received the winning trophy despite tying with her biologically female competitor, Riley Gaines (right).
In a short documentary released by the Independent Women’s Forum, Russell, who has been Oberlin’s head coach for six years, said that during the meeting she “felt like a little child being yelled at and told he was wrong.”
‘I’m very passionate about this because the reason we have these opportunities to play and train is because of the women who came before me, who fought for us to have these opportunities.
“I don’t think the younger generation understands that these opportunities didn’t exist years ago.”
In a short documentary released by the Independent Women’s Forum, Russell, who has been Oberlin’s head coach for six years, said that during the meeting she “felt like a little child being yelled at and told he was wrong.”
“People say, ‘A trans woman is a woman. “How can you not think that?” she recounted.
‘I had prepared myself emotionally because I knew what was coming. I felt like I had been burned at the stake. I felt like I had been stoned and hanged at the same time,” she said.
Winkelfoos went on to tell Russell that she was perceived as “transgressive, transphobic and insecure.”
That “broke my heart because you love these kids like they were your own,” Russell said of his players, one of whom had gone to the athletic department to report his social media post.
Later in the documentary, Russell said: “It’s scientific that, biologically, men and women are different. Period. I don’t think biological men belong in women’s locker rooms. Where is the Me Too movement now? What happened to that?’
Appearing on Fox, Russell said he had been asked to take on the role of manager of the Employee Wellness Program.
Russell shared a post conveying his personal views on transgender swimmer Lia Thomas winning an NCAA championship in March 2022.
After publication, Russell was asked to write a letter of apology to the athletics department and her team, but she ultimately declined to do so.
Former NCAA Division I swimmer Riley Gaines, who competed and tied with Lia Thomas, has become a prominent advocate for equity in women’s sports and praised Russell for standing her ground under pressure.
‘This is really huge. The voice we were missing is that of the coaches,” Gaines wrote in response to the new documentary.
Oberlin is currently in the middle of another massive legal battle stemming from its woke policies and how they have impacted the community.
Last year, a jury ruled that the liberal arts college owed the owners of a local bakery $36.5 million after defaming the business and the owners by describing them as racist, following a 2016 incident when the owner from the store chased three black students who had robbed the business.
The school initially attempted to appeal the case to the state Supreme Court, which announced it would not hear the case last summer.
The school is currently embroiled in a legal battle with its insurance company, which refuses to cover the multimillion-dollar payment.
