Olympic legend Kaillie Humphries speaks out against SJSU for volleyball scandal handling, backs Brooke Slusser
Kaillie Humphries is a tax-paying Californian, and she doesn't approve of the California State University (CSU) system's latest lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Education.
As a veteran women's Olympian, now with a toddler son, she morally objects to it.
"I love California. I don't agree with its politics. I don't agree with the lawsuit at all," Humphries told Fox News Digital.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM
CSU and San Jose State University (SJSU) are taking on President Donald Trump's administration in a high-stakes legal challenge. The U.S. Department of Education investigated the school's transgender volleyball player scandal, and determined SJSU violated Title IX due to its handling of the situation.
Some of the female players were allegedly not aware the trans athlete, Blaire Fleming, was a biological male, according to court documents.
"For me, to hear or understand there was ever a female athlete that was unaware of their situation, it just speaks to why Trump stepping forward and keeping women's sports protected is so important. Because it's about not just physical safety, but the mental and the sexual side of everything," Humphries said. "I don't see a world where there should be any male in a female sport at all."
At the center of the conflict is 23-year-old Brooke Slusser. The former SJSU volleyball co-captain shared a court, locker rooms, hotel rooms and an apartment with Fleming before ever learning the athlete's biological sex.
Slusser fought back and spoke up, waging legal battles against the NCAA, Mountain West and CSU over her experience.
"I support her," Humphries said of Slusser. "I would say she did the right thing, and she has a community of people who believe in what she's fighting for."
Liberals across X and TikTok have launched a hate campaign against Slusser after a recent interview with Fox News Digital, where she revealed she shared secrets and, at times, beds with Fleming when they lived together in the same apartment.
Humphries called the attacks on Slusser "atrocious."
"I think it's atrocious to see somebody be attacked for feeling unsafe in their environment and speaking up about it," Humphries said. "I can only fathom what that feeling of unknown would be like when you find yourself in an unfamiliar situation, and to know that it affects her safety and will now moving forward affect her mental state. It's a hard situation to be in.
"I really hope, regardless of people's thoughts and feelings and beliefs, that sport needs to be a safe place. And attacking someone online for simply stating that they were unaware and that they feel unsafe in that environment, it's a shame… She can call me anytime if she needs help."
The person Slusser holds responsible for ending up in the situation with Fleming is SJSU head volleyball coach Todd Kress, who recruited her while allegedly withholding knowledge of the trans athlete's birth sex from her. Slusser also alleged Kress encouraged her to move into the apartment with Fleming, when there was another group of teammates looking for a tenant as well.
"Todd Kress, knowing this person was a man, and saying that I'm going to ‘fit in better' with these girls on my volleyball team, couldn't have been further from the truth," Slusser previously told Fox News Digital.
Humphries has her own experience with an allegedly abusive coach, and a program that didn't support her, when she competed for Team Canada.
"I went through a big issue with Bobsled Canada and the head coach that they had hired. And I was physically and mentally abused by the head coach. I physically feared for my safety," Humphries previously told Fox News Digital.
"When I brought it up to our administration at Bobsled Canada, they decided to back him as their choice as the coach that they hired in that Olympic year, and not back me… They cut my funding, they cut my support, they removed me from the team, and there was no way back on. And because I was living in the U.S. and engaged to an American at the time, I phoned up USA Bobsled."
Humphries had to start from square one, and earn her place on Team USA while undergoing a rigorous legal immigration process. But she made it, won gold at the 2022 Winter Olympics, won bronze in the 2026 Milan Cortina Games, en route to becoming the most accomplished women's bobsledder in history.
She made even more history on Thursday when she gave her Order of Ikkos medal, which is granted to those who make a big impact on an Olympic medalist's journey, to Trump. It made Trump the first U.S. president to receive such a medal.
Humphries thanked Trump for his executive actions in protecting women's sports and making IVF more accessible for hopeful mothers. Despite her historic Olympic success, Humphries calls her son her crowning achievement. But as she navigates raising her son in California, she says she will have to keep her guard up.
"I've thought about homeschooling," Humphries admitted.
"As a mom, raising a son, he will grow up to believe that women's sports are for women… I will make sure he is a true advocate not only for sports itself, but for women's sports…
"Who knows what the state of California and or the United States will be in when we get that time even five years from now when he starts school."
Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.