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91
“Protect Female Athletes”: Women’s Volleyball Team Abandons Match Due To Transgender Opponent
Utah State University has forfeited a match against San Jose State amidst controversies revolving around transgender player Blaire Fleming.
A lawsuit has been filed against Fleming, a senior participating in her third season on San Jose State’s roster, for knowingly violating a law that prohibits transgender players from competing in women’s sports.
Highlights
- Utah State forfeited a match against San Jose State over transgender player Blaire Fleming.
- Four universities have now refused to play against San Jose State due to the same issue.
- Governor Spencer Cox supports the decision to forgo matches against San Jose State for fairness.
“Utah State University will not participate in its scheduled October 23, 2024, volleyball match at San Jose State University,” said the university in a statement posted on Wednesday. “The University will abide by Mountain West Conference policy regarding how this match is recorded.”
This is now the fourth university that has refused to play San Jose State, following similar announcements from Southern Utah, Boise State, and University of Wyoming.
RELATED:
Utah State University refused to play a volleyball match against San Jose State over a transgender player
Image credits: usuvolleyball
After Fleming was revealed to have been born a biological male, more than a dozen female athletes, including fellow teammate Brooke Slusser, have turned against her.
Regarding this controversy, San Jose State issued a statement saying, “It is disappointing that our SJSU student athletes, who are in full compliance with NCAA and Mountain West rules and regulations, are being denied opportunities to compete.
“We are committed to supporting our student-athletes through these challenges and in their ability to compete in an inclusive, fair, safe and respectful environment.”
Image credits: sanjosestatevb
Governor of Utah Spencer Cox also voiced his thoughts.
“I stand with the students, coaches and leadership at @SUUtbirds and @USUAggies in their decision to forgo their women’s volleyball matches against San Jose State,” he said.
“It is essential that we preserve a space for women to compete fairly and safely,” Cox continued. “Our female athletes are left grappling with this difficult issue because the NCAA has failed in its responsibility to protect female athletes and women’s sports. It’s time for the NCAA to take this seriously and protect our female student athletes.”
Fleming’s former roommate Brooke Slusser was the first person to reveal that the player admitted to being biologically male
Image credits: brookeslusser04
In the lawsuit, Slusser claimed to be concerned for her safety, especially since she was unaware of Fleming’s biological sex when they shared rooms on team trips.
Slusser’s complaint read, “Brooke estimates that Fleming’s spikes were traveling upwards of 80mph, which was faster than she had ever seen a woman hit a volleyball.
“The girls were doing everything they could to dodge Fleming’s spikes but still could not fully protect themselves.”
View this post on Instagram
Riley Gaines, women’s-rights activist and critic of trans athletes in women’s sports, issued her own statement.
“I commend Boise State’s athletic department and everyone involved in the decision to forfeit their match against undefeated San Jose State,” it read. “Some principles transcend winning on the court, and the safety and well-being of female athletes is one of them.
“It’s encouraging to witness a growing number of institutions prioritizing fairness and athlete safety over forced inclusion.
“I hope to see more universities follow the lead of Boise State and Southern Utah, standing up for what’s right and protecting the integrity of women’s sports.”
Fleming is one of the top players on the team, leading the university to many of its victories
Image credits: blaire.fleming
The 6ft1in volleyball star plays as an outside and right-side hitter and has helped her team move to 10-0 this year.
She is currently listed as the second-best player, scoring 118.5 points this season and with 103 kills.
Fleming had transferred to San Jose State since her previous university — Coastal Carolina University — would have banned her from playing on female teams.
Image credits: blaire.fleming
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What do you think ?
Winnie the Moo 1 year ago
When someone transitions to their believed gender does not mean that the body itself, physiologically, transforms as well. The DNA structure of the body doesn’t change with the mindset and surgeries. Therefore, males/former males have an unfair advantage: bigger long capacity, quicker recovery, bigger muscles, more strength. Don’t get me wrong: I am totally ok with trans-people, everyone deserves to be happy in their own body and no one should have any say over that. But saying trans people can’t compete in sports against the sex they transitioned to often is regarded as being transphobic; same goes for: a transwoman will never get her period or get pregnant. That is not transphobia. That’s just science and no wishing upon a star is gonna change that (unfortunately so).
Meng Ma 7 months ago
Many trans women take hormones that also weaken their muscles, though.
Load More Replies...
Hoi-Polloi 1 year ago
It kind of makes sense to me. If the women don't rebel, you're going to see an asterisk next to every women's world record from here on out. The whole point of women's leagues was to give women a place to excel, instead of making everything co-ed.
Priyanka Srivastava 1 year ago
How do people ignore biology so blatantly. There is obviously a difference between men and women. Trans women do have an advantage. Men have a bigger skeleton and bigger organs like heart and lungs, their lung capacity is greater and stuff like that doesn't change even after transitioning and those things have an obvious advantage in sports. Their muscle mass and testosterone levels does decrease post transition but it is nowhere near the level of cis women and ignoring those facts is good for nobody. I am not saying trans people shouldn't play sports but they need their own category. To those arguing that trans people don't have an advantage please care to explain why we never seen trans men dominating men's sports.
Keith Lindquist 1 year ago
The ego of some people! They KNOW that pitting a man against women in sports is unfair. Yet they want acceptance so badly that they will rationalize the unfairness away. Their agenda takes precedence. They have made this a political issue, not a compassionate inclusion issue. No, you can't make reasonable people accept it by poo pooing people that stand up for original women. Kudos to these schools for forfeiting these matches. We all mostly accept transgender individuals, yet when your issue causes damage and lost opportunities to women then we have to also stand up. Your champions need to start your own transgender league, not try to ingratiate your athletes in with our young girls. Not even your engineered women with hormones need apply. Do your own thing.
nuberiffic 1 year ago
"putting a man against a woman is unfair". Good thing they're women then. So it's all fair.
Load More Replies...
UKGrandad 1 year ago
To those of you shouting about transphobia and claiming that males have no advantage in sports, consider this: if there really are no advantages to men in sports, why are trans men not racking up wins in male sports the way that trans women are doing in female sports? I'm sure that it isn't because, by some weird coincidence, male-identifying trans people just happen to have no interest in sport, so what would you say is holding them back?
Socks Thecate 1 year ago (edited)
It's probably amusing to some to see such blatant misogyny dressed up as a civil rights movement. A white person does not get to pretend to be black and then demand entry into black only spaces and call any black people that disagree bigots. The very basis of female subjugation is biology and though nobody minds at all what you think you are, what you want to wear or who you want to sleep with, women do mind if they are subjugated by a supposed civil rights movement like this. It is because women are hated that this is allowed. Gynephobia. So far four colleges have had to forfeit games because of one male. How many women were affected? Nobody cares. Women do not exist to be human support animals or to validate men.
UKGrandad 1 year ago (edited)
From OP: "In the lawsuit, Slusser claimed to be concerned for her safety, especially since she was unaware of Fleming’s biological sex when they shared rooms on team trips." Two points about this: First, the wording is misleading. In the source material Slusser's safety concerns centre on the way Fleming acts on the court, "smashing volleyballs into the faces and bodies of young women", not only against opposing sides but also in practice sessions with his own teammates. Second, it's creepy at best and potentially extremely dangerous at worst that a young woman was roomed with Fleming without being informed that he is a male. Essentially she was sleeping, showering, etc. in the same space as a man without her knowledge or consent. When a woman has to room with somebody else she has the right to know the sex of the person she's being paired-up with.
John Candler 1 year ago
Good for those girls...........WIMPY guys who want to be girls don't belong playing on girls sports teams!!!!!
Winnie the Moo 1 year ago
When someone transitions to their believed gender does not mean that the body itself, physiologically, transforms as well. The DNA structure of the body doesn’t change with the mindset and surgeries. Therefore, males/former males have an unfair advantage: bigger long capacity, quicker recovery, bigger muscles, more strength. Don’t get me wrong: I am totally ok with trans-people, everyone deserves to be happy in their own body and no one should have any say over that. But saying trans people can’t compete in sports against the sex they transitioned to often is regarded as being transphobic; same goes for: a transwoman will never get her period or get pregnant. That is not transphobia. That’s just science and no wishing upon a star is gonna change that (unfortunately so).
Meng Ma 7 months ago
Many trans women take hormones that also weaken their muscles, though.
Load More Replies... Hoi-Polloi 1 year ago
It kind of makes sense to me. If the women don't rebel, you're going to see an asterisk next to every women's world record from here on out. The whole point of women's leagues was to give women a place to excel, instead of making everything co-ed.
Priyanka Srivastava 1 year ago
How do people ignore biology so blatantly. There is obviously a difference between men and women. Trans women do have an advantage. Men have a bigger skeleton and bigger organs like heart and lungs, their lung capacity is greater and stuff like that doesn't change even after transitioning and those things have an obvious advantage in sports. Their muscle mass and testosterone levels does decrease post transition but it is nowhere near the level of cis women and ignoring those facts is good for nobody. I am not saying trans people shouldn't play sports but they need their own category. To those arguing that trans people don't have an advantage please care to explain why we never seen trans men dominating men's sports.
Keith Lindquist 1 year ago
The ego of some people! They KNOW that pitting a man against women in sports is unfair. Yet they want acceptance so badly that they will rationalize the unfairness away. Their agenda takes precedence. They have made this a political issue, not a compassionate inclusion issue. No, you can't make reasonable people accept it by poo pooing people that stand up for original women. Kudos to these schools for forfeiting these matches. We all mostly accept transgender individuals, yet when your issue causes damage and lost opportunities to women then we have to also stand up. Your champions need to start your own transgender league, not try to ingratiate your athletes in with our young girls. Not even your engineered women with hormones need apply. Do your own thing.
nuberiffic 1 year ago
"putting a man against a woman is unfair". Good thing they're women then. So it's all fair.
Load More Replies... UKGrandad 1 year ago
To those of you shouting about transphobia and claiming that males have no advantage in sports, consider this: if there really are no advantages to men in sports, why are trans men not racking up wins in male sports the way that trans women are doing in female sports? I'm sure that it isn't because, by some weird coincidence, male-identifying trans people just happen to have no interest in sport, so what would you say is holding them back?
Socks Thecate 1 year ago (edited)
It's probably amusing to some to see such blatant misogyny dressed up as a civil rights movement. A white person does not get to pretend to be black and then demand entry into black only spaces and call any black people that disagree bigots. The very basis of female subjugation is biology and though nobody minds at all what you think you are, what you want to wear or who you want to sleep with, women do mind if they are subjugated by a supposed civil rights movement like this. It is because women are hated that this is allowed. Gynephobia. So far four colleges have had to forfeit games because of one male. How many women were affected? Nobody cares. Women do not exist to be human support animals or to validate men.
UKGrandad 1 year ago (edited)
From OP: "In the lawsuit, Slusser claimed to be concerned for her safety, especially since she was unaware of Fleming’s biological sex when they shared rooms on team trips." Two points about this: First, the wording is misleading. In the source material Slusser's safety concerns centre on the way Fleming acts on the court, "smashing volleyballs into the faces and bodies of young women", not only against opposing sides but also in practice sessions with his own teammates. Second, it's creepy at best and potentially extremely dangerous at worst that a young woman was roomed with Fleming without being informed that he is a male. Essentially she was sleeping, showering, etc. in the same space as a man without her knowledge or consent. When a woman has to room with somebody else she has the right to know the sex of the person she's being paired-up with.
John Candler 1 year ago
Good for those girls...........WIMPY guys who want to be girls don't belong playing on girls sports teams!!!!!
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