(NewsNation) — Female college athletes have shifted the narrative surrounding transgender participation in sports, framing it as a women’s rights issue rather than a matter of pronouns or biology.

This shift in framing has become pivotal in the ongoing political debate surrounding the topic and marks a significant change from the past, when such a stance might have led to accusations of bigotry.

The Roanoke College women’s swim team recently made headlines by collectively expressing concerns over the fairness of allowing transgender women to compete in women’s sports.

Members of the women’s swim team called on the NCAA to save women’s sports from the growing influx of trans women competitors and planned to call on the same organization to make rule changes that prioritize fairness and equal opportunity for women.

Swimmers also called on Virginia lawmakers to pass legislation to protect the integrity of women’s sports and respond to efforts to manipulate and intimidate them into silence.

Riley Gaines, director of The Riley Gaines Center at the Leadership Institute, joined NewsNation’s “On Balance With Leland Vittert” to discuss the movement.

“A year and a half ago, that would not have happened. And when I say that, I mean these girls standing in unison,” Gaines said. “When myself and my competitors and my teammates went through the same situation regarding Lea Thomas, we were terrified to talk about the subject. We were terrified to stand together. But what these girls from Roanoke are showing is that the tide is turning.”

University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas became the first transgender athlete to win an NCAA Division One title last year.

“It’s what we’ve needed,” Gaines said. “We’ve needed girls to be willing to say ‘enough is enough,’ roll up their sleeves and say ‘no’ collectively together,” adding that the issue has really opened people’s eyes to their struggle.

“Now I think we’re seeing how this is infiltrating beyond just ‘you doing you.’ You’re demanding the language that we call you, you’re demanding access into our spaces, our sports, and that’s where the line has just gone too far,” she said.

Public opinion on the matter also seems to be shifting, with only one in four Americans now supporting transgender athletes’ participation in teams that do not align with their birth sex, a significant change from two years ago, when one in three felt that way, according to a recent Gallup poll.

This year, transgender bans were implemented in North Carolina and Texas. At least 21 other states share a similar ban at either the K-12 or college level, according to the Movement Advancement Project.

Earlier this year, the Biden administration proposed a rule that would make it illegal for schools to ban transgender athletes from competing.

These proposed changes would include protections for transgender individuals and make it illegal for schools to ban trans students from sports teams that align with their gender identity.

But many state lawmakers came together to fight the administration’s proposed changes.

“We have Title IX, which is a beautiful 37-word federal civil rights law that prevents discrimination on the basis of sex on college campuses and within higher education,” Gaines said. “And so it’s a lot broader even than just women’s sports. But the benefits are undeniable, and how it’s really catapulted women’s opportunities, again, transcending beyond just sports. But now, what the federal level is doing, what the Biden administration, the people in the White House, the people who lead this country, what they’re doing is totally rewriting Title IX.”