3 universities forfeit volleyball tournament over alleged trans player
The University of Wyoming women’s volleyball team just announced that they’ll forfeit their upcoming match against the San José State University women’s volleyball team because San José allegedly has a transgender player. They’re the third team to recently do so, and pressure from politicians and a lawsuit may have played a factor in their decision.
The forfeit contradicts the University of Wyoming’s previous statement that it would proceed with the match, following discussions with the San José team’s staff. The University of Wyoming didn’t say what led to the change in its team’s decision.
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“After a lengthy discussion, the University of Wyoming will not play its scheduled conference match against San José State University in the UniWyo Sports Complex on Saturday, Oct. 5,” Nick Seeman, University of Wyoming’s Assistant Athletic Director, wrote in a statement. “Per Mountain West Conference policy, the Conference will record the match as a forfeit and a loss for Wyoming.”
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This marks the third team to forfeit a match against San José due to allegations of a transgender player being on the team. This forfeiture, along with the other two — from Boise State University and Southern Utah University — comes in response to a lawsuit filed by anti-trans activist Riley Gaines. This lawsuit, which was later joined by a player on the San José team, Brooke Slusser, alleges that teammate and Slusser’s roommate Blaire Fleming is a transgender woman.
Wyoming lawmakers applied additional pressure by circulating a letter telling the state university to forfeit the game.
“The Legislature has been very clear that the University of Wyoming, being a publicly funded land grant institution, should not participate in the extremist agenda of Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) or propagate the lie that biological sex can be changed,” the letter, circulated by Sen. Cheri Steinmetz (R), states. “We all know it cannot.”
Fleming has opted not to publicize any responses regarding her gender identity, and she remains a private citizen. She also has reportedly not disclosed additional details about her identity to her team.
Gaines’ lawsuit alleges that, by existing as a trans woman who rooms with cis women, Fleming violated Slusser’s privacy, and caused “physical and emotional injuries.” The lawsuit provides little elaboration to the tangible harms of a trans woman existing in women’s sports.
The lawsuit also claims that Fleming is one of the better performers on the team, stating that she has the team’s second-highest number of “kills” — a term that refers to an unreturned attack that scores a point against the opposing team — and that she spikes the ball at “80 miles per hour.”
In order for Fleming to spike a ball that fast, she would have to outperform the top women’s Olympic athletes, and would rank higher than many of the top men’s Olympic athletes.
Fleming has been playing for over two years. If she were a trans woman, in order to participate in women’s volleyball, she would have to have testosterone levels equivalent to that of a cis woman, tested repeatedly.
“Athletics should be about fostering teamwork, growth, and healthy competition — not about discrimination and exclusion,” Wyoming Equality commented in a statement about this incident. “We believe every athlete, including transgender athletes, deserves the opportunity to compete and play the sports they love. This is personal to me, as the first transgender athlete at UW I experienced the best of Wyoming, a focus on playing sports, not politics. Taking away opportunities to compete hurts all athletes.”
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