Female athletes 'blindsided' on volleyball court with trans player prompts civil rights complaint, lawsuit
EXCLUSIVE: Concerned Women of America (CWA) is leading the charge to safeguard women's sports after an athlete on the San Jose State University (SJSU) women's volleyball team was identified as a transgender player.
Blaire Fleming's towering 6-foot-1 presence on the volleyball court has assisted SJSU's Division I volleyball team to remain undefeated on the court this season.
Macy Petty, a CWA legislative assistant and a NCAA volleyball athlete, shared with Fox News Digital the organization's efforts to raise awareness of transgender players' impact on women's sports.
"We want to protect the integrity of women's sports but also the safety of these female athletes," she said. "Many of these schools were unaware that there was a male athlete on this team until this news article came out in April. We just want to make sure that these schools know exactly what is going on in this athletic program because the NCAA and SJSU had not previously given them the decency to even let them know what was happening."
"Female athletes were put in this odd position of showing up on the court and looking at the other side and realizing that something was different about this game. I've never seen an athlete play like this before, which makes total sense considering that this athlete, first of all, is not female, but the net is seven inches shorter than it should be for male players."
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Petty said players feel "blindsided" because the governing body – the NCAA – of the league has not informed teams of the presence of transgender players on opposing teams.
"There's no informed consent for the schools or for the female athletes here. They're totally blindsided when they walk up to the court and they see that there's a male athlete on the other side."
"This actually happened to me. I played college volleyball, and during my recruiting process, the same thing happened to me. I walked up to the court and, with all of the college scouts standing all around me, I looked at my competition, and it was a boy," she said. "I thought this is obviously cheating, but I played anyway because I didn't have this time to sit and reflect and think about the decisions that I was making. It was just kind of upon me at that moment without any respect given to me about that decision."
Petty said athletes are faced with having to "choose between maybe a $100,000 educational scholarship or their own safety and dignity."
"And for a lot of girls, that's a burden that is just too much to bear," she said. "We're asking these schools to be proactive on this issue and simply say if there is a boy on the other team, we're not going to play. We're not going to jeopardize our female athletes, we're not going to jeopardize their safety and dignity. We're simply not playing, we're not going to do this game and have to make our female athletes suffer that burden."
The organization's concern prompted them to file a federal civil rights complaint alleging female discrimination and arguing that the California university allowed a male athlete to hold a female roster spot as well as a female athletic scholarship.
CWA also sent letters to schools competing against SJSU, informing them of the males' participation in the sport and the potential impact on their female athletes.
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Fox News Digital exclusively obtained a copy of the letter the organization sent to Colorado State University informing it about Fleming's presence and about safety concerns.
"We just asked a couple of questions, like, if they knew that there was a boy athlete that they were going to be competing against. We also [asked] if they are willing to compromise the integrity of your program but also the safety of your female athletes by competing in this game, knowing that there is an increased risk of harm. What are you doing to be precautionary and make sure that this doesn't happen in the future?"
On Friday, Colorado State replied to the organization's inquiry, saying it was planning to host the university as planned on Oct. 3.
"And while we do appreciate that they responded to our inquiry, we do recognize that there have been two major developments since their response on Friday. First, Concerned Women for America did file this federal civil rights complaint against San Jose State. And also Boise State pulled out of their game – a conference game – against San Jose State."
"We're hoping that Colorado State will reevaluate our questions knowing that this is a serious problem," she said.
Boise State University forfeited the game's match against SJSU on Sept. 28.
"Boise State volleyball will not play its scheduled match at San José State on Saturday, Sept. 28. Per Mountain West Conference policy, the Conference will record the match as a forfeit and a loss for Boise State. The Broncos will next compete on Oct. 3 against Air Force," Boise State said in a statement.
Idaho Gov. Brad Little commended the move, saying it was "working within the spirit" of an executive order he signed "defending women’s sports."
"I applaud Boise State for working within the spirit of my Executive Order, the Defending Women’s Sports Act," Little wrote in an X post. "We need to ensure player safety for all of our female athletes and continue the fight for fairness in women’s sports."
On Tuesday, the University of Wyoming followed suit, forfeiting the conference game against SJSU. The news came after CWA's college organization, Young Women for America, sent a letter to University of Wyoming President Edward Seidel and Director of Athletics Tom Burman.
"After a lengthy discussion, the University of Wyoming will not play its scheduled conference match against San José State University in the UniWyo Sports Complex on Saturday, Oct. 5. Per Mountain West Conference policy, the Conference will record the match as a forfeit and a loss for Wyoming," they wrote in a statement. "The Cowgirls will host Fresno State on Thursday, Oct. 3 at 6:30 p.m. in the UniWyo Sports Complex."
The latest reports on Fleming's impact on female sports comes as a lawsuit was filed in Georgia against the NCAA.
The lawsuit is headed by former University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines and includes SJSU volleyball player Brooke Slusser as a plaintiff.
In the lawsuit, Slusser, a Texas native who transferred to SJSU from the University of Alabama, said Fleming was a "male who identifies as transgender and who claims a female identity."
Slusser alleged that SJSU did not immediately tell her that Fleming is transgender, and the two roomed together on road trips. Slusser said she learned of her teammate’s gender identity when she overheard a student call Fleming a "guy."
Fleming told Slusser in April 2024 that she was born male and considers herself to be transgender, according to the lawsuit.
Slusser said Fleming's spikes traveled more than 80 mph, "which was faster than [Slusser] had ever seen a woman hit a volleyball." Other members of the SJSU team were concerned about getting concussed by Fleming’s spikes, the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit alleged that team members were instructed not to speak about Fleming's gender with people outside the team.
"Due to the NCAA’s Transgender Eligibility Policies which permit Fleming to play on the SJSU women’s volleyball team and which led to SJSU recruiting Fleming, giving Fleming a scholarship, and allowing Fleming to be in positions to violate Brooke’s right to bodily privacy, Brooke has suffered physical and emotional injuries, embarrassment, humiliation, emotional distress, mental anguish and suffering," the lawsuit said.
Fox News Digital has reached out to San Jose State University for comment.
Slusser spoke to OutKick over the weekend about the lawsuit, saying she believed she was doing the right thing.
"It's crazy to say, but it was an easy decision for me to join because it's something I truly believe in," Slusser said. "And it's been easy because all the support that I'm getting, 99% of it is just love and encouragement. So, for me, it shows that I made the right decision to join. This is something that so many people do care about. It's just that so many people are scared to talk about it."
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