The San Jose State University (SJSU) Spartans 2024 women’s volleyball season is in disarray after three schools forfeited games against the team. Although the schools gave no reason for their decision, many suspect they backed out because of Blaire Fleming, a trans athlete on the Spartans roster.
Fleming transferred to SJSU three years ago from South Carolina, according to independent LGBTQ+ journalist Erin Reed. Brooke Slusser, Fleming’s teammate and captain of the SJSU Spartans team, has now joined an NCAA lawsuit against trans women athletes in college sports. Slusser insists that she and the rest of the team had no idea Fleming was trans until she was outed without her consent in an April article in far-right transphobic outlet Reduxx. Fleming has not commented on the matter.
Fleming confided in her friend, who then stabbed her in the back
Slusser roomed with Fleming on road trips, but according to Slusser, didn’t suspect Fleming was trans until she heard another student refer to Fleming as a “guy.” Slusser also believes that Fleming’s performance on the court also raises questions. According to Slusser, Fleming confided to her she was born male and self-identified as transgender, the lawsuit states. SJSU administration told the team to keep quiet, the suit said.
The lawsuit Slusser has now joined was filed earlier by University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines, and it alleges that the NCAA discriminates “against women in college athletics” by protecting trans athletes under Title IX, a federal civil rights law passed in 1972 prohibiting gender discrimination at any school that receives federal funding.
Do trans-women athletes have a competitive advantage?
According to journalist Erin Reed, studies have shown trans athletes on hormone therapy for more than two years have no competitive advantage in sports. According to The New York Times in April, however, the matter is still subject to debate. Fleming is 6’1,” and Slusser “estimates” her spikes travel at 80 mph (if true this would roughly equal the all-time men’s world record) and cause safety issues for other female players. Several other SJSU players are 6-feet or taller.
The NCAA transgender student-athlete policy states, “Transgender student-athletes will need to document sport-specific testosterone levels beginning four weeks before their sport’s championship selections,” among other requirements. SJSU told ABC 7 San Francisco that all their student-athletes comply with NCAA regulations. Because of privacy concerns, the school would not provide further details.
BSU beat Fleming and the Spartans last year
SJSU plays in the Mountain West Athletic Conference. So far, Boise State University, Utah State University, and Southern Utah University have forfeited their games without saying why, which all count as wins for the SJSU team, and the Spartans are undefeated. Boise State played Fleming last year and won. The University of Wyoming considered forfeiting but decided to move forward with the competition after Wyoming players said they weren’t concerned for their safety.
The Fleming controversy has caught fire in the culture wars over transgender rights. Gabrielle Antolovich, board president of the Billy DeFrank LGBTQ+ Community Center, said, “There’s so much negativity against trans folks and the LGBTQ community. I think there’s 500 pieces of legislation against us all over the country,” referring to the Slusser lawsuit. “… Title IX is a protection of women. And trans women are part of that protection,” Antolovich added.
Also referring to the Fleming situation, journalist Erin Reed wrote on X, “It is also important to note that people tend to accept a large variation in ‘biological advantages’ among cisgender women and that most transgender women who have been on hormone therapy likely fall within those ranges.”
It’s a depressing and hateful story designed to encourage discrimination against trans people and we only feel sympathy for Fleming, who has been forcibly outed in national media and unwillingly put in the eye of the culture war storm.
