On Monday, a judge denied a request to prevent a member of the San Jose State women’s volleyball team from participating in a conference tournament due to her gender identity.
The player, who has played the entire season, will be able to participate in the Mountain West Conference women’s championship tournament this week in Las Vegas thanks to a decision made by U.S. Magistrate Judge S. Kato Crews in Denver on Monday.
The decision is part of a case that nine current players filed against the Mountain West Conference, contesting the league’s rules on the participation of transgender athletes. The athletes contended that it was unfair and dangerous to allow her to compete.
Neither San Jose State nor the forfeiting teams have acknowledged that the school has a transgender female volleyball player, despite various media outlets reporting those and other details. The player has not made any public remarks regarding her gender identity, thus the Associated Press is not revealing her name. Additionally, the player’s request for an interview was turned down by school administrators.
The athlete was described as a “alleged transgender” player in Crews’ ruling, which also pointed out that no defendant challenged the fact that a transgender woman player is on the San Jose State roster.
In a statement, San Jose State stated it will “continue to support its student-athletes and reject discrimination in all forms,” reaffirming that all of its student-athletes are permitted to compete in accordance with conference and NCAA regulations. “We are pleased that an attempt to amend those rules at the last minute was denied by the Court. This week, our squad is excited to compete in the Mountain West volleyball tournament.
An email requesting comment was not immediately answered by the conference.
The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals received a notice of emergency appeal from the players.
Crews pointed out that the individual colleges had admitted that skipping their games against San Jose State this season would result in a drop in league standings, and that the players who brought the lawsuit could have requested relief much sooner. Additionally, he turned down a request to reseed the competition without the defeats that had been forfeited.
According to the judge, the purpose of injunctions is to maintain the status quo. The San Jose State athlete has been on the roster since 2022, therefore that is the current situation. The conference rules about forfeiting for refusing to play against a team with a transgender player has been in place since 2022.
The player received little notice during his three prior seasons of collegiate competition, which included two for San Jose State. In a significant election year, numerous players, commentators, parents, and politicians were outraged by this season’s revelation of her purported identity.
Injunctions, according to Crews’ opinion, are intended to stop injury, but in this instance, he contended, the harm has already happened. Teams have arranged their trip, the tournament has been seeded, the games have been forfeited, and the players have confirmed their intention to play.
The competition begins on Wednesday and runs through Friday and Saturday. San Jose State is ranked second, followed by Colorado State. Both teams have byes to Friday’s semifinals after splitting their regular-season games.
The victor of the conference tournament automatically advances to the NCAA tournament. The coach of San Jose State, whose squad hasn’t participated in the national tournament since 2001, Todd Kress, has claimed that his team has been receiving “messages of hate” and that this has negatively affected his players.
A number of clubs lost in the official conference rankings because they declined to play San Jose State throughout the season. Nevada and Utah State each had one forfeit, while Wyoming and Boise State each had two. The Western Athletic Conference team Southern Utah was the first to postpone their matchup with San Jose State this season.
They “refuse to participate in any match that advances injustice against female athletes,” Nevada’s athletes said, without providing further details. The conference tournament was not open to Nevada.
San Jose State senior setter and co-captain Brooke Slusser is one of the nine current players and others who are currently suing the Mountain West Conference, the California State University Board of Trustees, and other parties. According to the complaint, teammate Slusser claims that because transgender players hit the volleyball harder than regular players, there is a greater chance of concussions during sessions.
A separate lawsuit against the NCAA for permitting transgender women to participate in women’s sports is being funded by the Independent Council on Women’s Sports.
According to both complaints, transgender people are not allowed to participate in women’s sports because of Title IX, a historic federal antidiscrimination rule from 1972. Slusser is a plaintiff in both cases; Title IX forbids sexual discrimination in school receiving government funding.
According to Crews, a number of circuit courts have applied a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court to determine that discrimination against an individual on the basis of their sexual orientation or transgender status constitutes sex-based discrimination. In other words, the “likelihood of success” required to issue an injunction is not established by case law.
This academic year, the NCAA implemented a policy that requires transgender participation to adhere to the regulations set forth by sports regulating bodies. A trans woman must suppress her testosterone for a full year prior to competing, according to USA Volleyball. San Jose State has not received any complaints from the NCAA.
Citing fairness in women’s sports, the Republican governors of Idaho, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming have publicly defended the team cancellations. Donald Trump, the president-elect, has also expressed opposition to transgender women participating in women’s sports.
Before being named a federal judge by President Joe Biden in January, Crews served for more than five years as a magistrate judge in Colorado’s U.S. District Court.
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