After hearing that the San Jose State University women’s volleyball team has a transgender player in its lineup, the University of Wyoming discussed whether to play its scheduled Oct. 5 match against the undefeated Spartans, ultimately deciding to do so.
“The Athletic Department administration/coaching staff recently discussed the matter with the entire women’s volleyball team … including any potential safety concerns,” Chad Baldwin, a UW spokesman, told Cowboy State Daily in a Tuesday email. “No student-athletes expressed any concern regarding their safety.”
Baldwin added that UW does not want to comment on Fleming’s inclusion in general. “Opinions regarding fairness vary from individual to individual among the involved parties — coaches, student-athletes, etc.,” wrote Baldwin.
A member of the Mountain West Conference, Wyoming adheres MWC policies and those of the NCAA regarding transgender student-athlete participation, he said.
As reported by Clair McFarland of Cowboy State Daily, Blaire Fleming is an outside hitter for San Jose State who’s made headlines in recent days after another SJSU player, Brooke Slusser, joined a lawsuit to sue the NCAA over Fleming’s inclusion on the Division I team.
Slusser and numerous other women, including women’s rights activist Riley Gaines, allege in the lawsuit that Fleming is a male, and that Fleming’s inclusion on the women’s volleyball team poses an unfair advantage and safety hazards.
“Brooke estimates that Fleming’s spikes were traveling upward of 80 mph, which was faster than she had ever seen a woman hit a volleyball,” according to Slusser’s addition to the lawsuit complaint, proposed this week in the U.S. District Court for Northern Georgia. “The girls were doing everything they could to dodge Fleming’s spikes but still could not fully protect themselves.”
Slusser was surprised to find that Fleming had requested to room with her on volleyball trips — and that Fleming was male. After months of training and sometimes staying in the same rooms, Fleming pulled Slusser aside and admitted to being transgender, Slusser claims in her proposed addition.
Slusser and many other teammates think their team has an unfair advantage, the document says.
Prior to Wyoming's deliberations regarding its SJSU matchup, Southern Utah University cancelled its Sept. 14 match against San Jose State, though the reason give was SUU's desire to compete in just two conference matches that weekend.
SUU did not respond to a Cowboy State Daily request for comment.
No other teams have cancelled their volleyball matches against San Jose State, the school told Cowboy State Daily in a Tuesday email. Citing the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), the university declined to comment on Fleming’s sex.
Per McFarland's reporting, in 19 of 25 women’s sports, the NCAA requires males who want to compete against women to show testosterone suppression to a level of fewer than 10 nanomoles per liter, a threshold five times higher than the upper end of the female testosterone range and 25 times higher than testosterone levels for females at the lower end of the female range, says the lawsuit complaint.
That level also overlaps with the normal male range of 8.8 nmol/L to 30.9 nmol/L, the document adds.
A lawmaker who has been instrumental in curbing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) funding at the University of Wyoming voiced frustration Tuesday with the upcoming volleyball match, McFarland reported.
“We know it’s not fair, we know it’s not what our citizens want,” said Sen. Cheri Steinmetz, a Republican from Lingle. “The Legislature was very clear … that we wanted DEI stopped at the University of Wyoming. The citizens in the recent election cycle were very clear that they’re tired of the woke agenda.”
The Wyoming Legislature this winter passed a budget provision that tried to defund all DEI programming at UW, along with the school’s DEI office.
Governor Mark Gordon vetoed the portion defunding DEI programming, but kept the part defunding the DEI office. UW can spend state money on some DEI programming, though it still weathered a $1.7 million budget cut as a result of the budget provision, according to McFarland.
