Women's volleyball team with transgender player getting police protection amid backlash and lawsuit

The San Jose State women's volleyball squad is getting added information successful the signifier of constabulary extortion amid a nationalist controversy implicit a transgender subordinate connected the team, according to a assemblage spokesperson.

"I tin corroborate that we are utilizing assemblage constabulary to supply other information for the team astatine their location and distant games," San Jose State's Senior Director of Media Relations Michelle Smith-McDonald told Fox News Digital connected Thursday. 

The university's constabulary section annually documents astir 60,000 incidents, arrests betwixt 800 and 900 suspects and writes astir 2,500 reports. The Police Communications Center dispatches unit to much than 50,000 calls for work each year, according to the station's website. 

However, Smith-McDonald said the department's resources are present indispensable for the volleyball squad owed to the standard of nationalist media attraction the squad has garnered successful caller weeks.

"The information of our students is our apical priority. The squad has been a taxable of important attention, not each of it positive, and we are ensuring their security," Smith-McDonald said. 

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Blaire Fleming, a transgender athlete, has played 3 seasons astatine SJSU aft antecedently playing astatine Coastal Carolina. (San Jose State University)

The squad is coming disconnected of a nonaccomplishment against Colorado State connected the roadworthy connected Thursday, successful which Blaire Fleming, a transgender female, took the tribunal for San Jose State. Fleming transferred to San Jose State successful 2022 from Coastal Carolina. As a biologic male, Fleming antecedently acceptable a precocious schoolhouse grounds astatine John Champe High School with 30 kills successful a lucifer and a single-season grounds of 266 kills for the school's girls' volleyball team. 

Footage connected Fleming's Hudl page of the school-record 30-kill lucifer successful September 2019 shows however hard and accelerated Fleming's spikes came down astatine the precocious schoolhouse level against miss opponents.

The National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) requires transgender women to taxable documentation including testosterone levels earlier a determination is made connected their eligibility to play. San José State has said they are successful afloat compliance with NCAA rules.

However, the programme is inactive facing absorption successful the signifier of a suit from 1 of its ain players implicit Fleming's beingness connected the squad and successful the locker room. Four different competing programs person besides forfeited matches against San Jose State without providing a circumstantial reason, aft quality of the suit began to spread. 

Brooke Slusser, a subordinate of San Jose's women's volleyball team, joined 18 different athletes successful suing the NCAA implicit its existent sex individuality policies. The suit alleged Slusser, who transferred to San Jose, felt acrophobic for her information aft realizing 1 of her caller teammates was transgender. 

Slusser joined successful the suit that erstwhile NCAA swimmer and OutKick contributor Riley Gaines began earlier this twelvemonth implicit having to stock a locker country with and vie against transgender swimmer Lia Thomas, a biologic antheral who tied with Gaines astatine the 2022 NCAA championships. 

Slusser claimed she was not alert that Fleming was transgender contempt sharing rooms unneurotic connected squad trips, per the tribunal documents. Slusser besides expressed information concerns for opponents playing against Fleming. 

"Brooke estimates that Fleming’s spikes were traveling upward of 80 mph, which was faster than she had ever seen a pistillate deed a volleyball," Slusser’s ailment read. "The girls were doing everything they could to dodge Fleming’s spikes but inactive could not afloat support themselves."

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One of Blaire Fleming’s teammates joined respective different pistillate athletes successful suing the NCAA for Title IX violations. (San Jose State University)

The 4 teams that person forfeited matches against San Jose State successful caller weeks are Boise State, Southern Utah, Wyoming and Utah State. 

Colorado State, however, opted to play their lucifer against San Jose State connected Thursday. It conscionable truthful happened to beryllium Colorado State's yearly inclusive excellence game. The University of Nevada besides preemptively committed to playing San Jose State connected Oct. 26, Nevada announced successful a connection connected Thursday. 

The contention surrounding whether Fleming should beryllium allowed to vie and stock locker rooms with women's volleyball players has resulted successful impassioned arguments connected some sides of the issue. 

Idaho Gov. Brad Little and Utah Gov. Spencer Cox person each commended the universities successful their respective states, Boise State successful Idaho and Utah State and Southern Utah successful Utah, for forfeiting their matches against San Jose State. 

"It is indispensable that we sphere a abstraction for women to vie reasonably and safely. Our pistillate athletes are near grappling with this hard contented due to the fact that the NCAA has failed successful its work to support pistillate athletes and women’s sports. It’s clip for the NCAA to instrumentality this earnestly and support our pistillate pupil athletes," Cox wrote successful a station connected X. 

Meanwhile, Little, who passed an enforcement bid successful his authorities connected Aug. 28 aimed to reason transgender inclusion successful girls' and women's sports, commended his bid for playing into Boise State's determination to forfeit. 

"I applaud Boise State for moving wrong the tone of my Executive Order, the Defending Women’s Sports Act," Little's station connected X read. "We request to guarantee subordinate information for each of our pistillate athletes and proceed the combat for fairness successful women’s sports." 

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Blaire Fleming, #3, a redshirt elder astatine San Jose State University, plays arsenic an extracurricular and right-side hitter connected the women’s volleyball team. (San Jose State University)

Little antecedently told Fox News Digital successful an exclusive interrogation that determination were nary incidents of transgender athletes competing successful women's sports that occurred successful his authorities that factored into his enforcement bid anterior to him passing it. Now, Boise State has ensured that inclination continues. 

"Obviously, a idiosyncratic with those benignant of advantages, idiosyncratic that had competed antecedently successful antheral sports and past transitioned implicit to vie successful women’s sports, that’s what I’m definite the bully radical of Idaho deliberation is incorrect and shouldn’t happen," Little said.

"From a nationalist standpoint, determination are extremist small groups that privation to instrumentality changes successful the rules that we person already. I’m assured successful what we have, and we volition aggressively (act), arsenic the authorities of Idaho, some legally and legislatively to support women’s athletes and the large advances they’ve made due to the fact that of Title IX." 

However, LGBTQ rights groups person advocated for Fleming's close to vie arsenic a women's volleyball player. 

LGBTQ advocacy radical Wyoming Equality communications coordinator Santi Murillo released a statement connected Wednesday saying, "Athletics should beryllium astir fostering teamwork, maturation and steadfast contention — not astir favoritism and exclusion." The connection was successful effect to the University of Wyoming canceling its lucifer against San Jose State erstwhile it became the 3rd programme to bash truthful connected Tuesday. 

New Jersey Democrat legislature campaigner Sue Altman went truthful acold arsenic to accidental that women athletes successful locker rooms "aren't worried" astir transgenders competing successful their sports and that biologic men should beryllium capable to vie successful girls' sports astatine the younker level. 

"I committedness you that successful the locker rooms of women’s sports teams, we’re not ace disquieted astir this," Altman told the New York Post. 

"If we determine arsenic a nine that making rules astir who is and who isn’t pistillate is much important than giving young children a accidental to beryllium connected teams and vie and to beryllium portion of thing bigger than themselves, particularly young radical who are much susceptible to termination and bullying, past I deliberation we’ve mislaid our mode a small bit."

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