{"id":38388,"date":"2024-11-15T13:52:56","date_gmt":"2024-11-15T18:52:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/sport\/volleyball-players-coach-sue-san-jose-state-mountain-west-for-allowing-transgender-athlete\/15\/11\/2024\/"},"modified":"2024-11-15T13:52:57","modified_gmt":"2024-11-15T18:52:57","slug":"volleyball-players-coach-sue-san-jose-state-mountain-west-for-allowing-transgender-athlete","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/sport\/volleyball-players-coach-sue-san-jose-state-mountain-west-for-allowing-transgender-athlete\/15\/11\/2024\/","title":{"rendered":"Volleyball players, coach sue San Jose State, Mountain West for allowing transgender athlete"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A federal lawsuit filed Wednesday in Colorado against the Mountain West and its commissioner, Gloria Nevarez, seeks emergency injunctive relief that would declare a transgender San Jose State<\/a> women\u2019s volleyball player ineligible for the upcoming conference tournament in Las Vegas on Nov. 27-30.<\/p>\n

The plaintiffs include San Jose State co-captain Brooke Slusser, assistant coach Melissa Batie-Smoose and two former Spartans players, as well as players from four other conference schools. They allege that the school and conference violated the U.S. Constitution and Title IX by allowing a transgender athlete to play for a women\u2019s sports team and by suppressing free speech rights of those that spoke out in protest.<\/p>\n

San Jose State University, its head volleyball coach Todd Kress, and two school administrators, as well as the trustees board for the California State University system, are also named as defendants.<\/p>\n

The controversy flared in September when Slusser, who transferred to San Jose State prior to the 2023 season, joined a federal lawsuit challenging the NCAA<\/a>\u2019s transgender policy and went public with assertions about her teammate\u2019s gender identification. In the lawsuit, Slusser said the teammate, who was also her roommate, \u201cwas born male and identifies as a \u2018transgender woman,\u2019\u201d and came out to her during a conversation in April.<\/p>\n

Slusser has since spoken with numerous media outlets about her experience with her teammate. The Athletic<\/em> is not naming the athlete because the athlete has not publicly identified.<\/p>\n

A Mountain West spokesperson did not return a message seeking comment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Mountain West Conference prioritizes the best interests of our student-athletes and takes great care to adhere to NCAA and MW policies,\u201d the conference said in a Thursday statement. \u201cWhile we are unable to comment on the pending litigation of this particular situation, we take seriously all concerns of student-athlete welfare and fairness.\u201d<\/p>\n

In October, Nevarez told the Associated Press<\/a>: \u201cThe student-athlete (in question) meets the eligibility standard, so if a team does not play them, it\u2019s a forfeit, meaning they take a loss.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have not been served with the lawsuit. We obtained a copy of the 132-page document late Wednesday afternoon,\u201d SJSU said in a statement. \u201cWe will not comment at this time.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the season began, several schools \u2014 Southern Utah, Boise State, Utah State, Wyoming and Nevada \u2014 forfeited matches with the Spartans.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit alleges that the Mountain West\u2019s handbook did not originally include a policy for transgender athletes, but added one on Sept. 27, around the same time the controversy exploded, that stated that schools would have to forfeit if they refused to play a match.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit also alleges that San Jose State officials in an April 2024 meeting instructed players not to speak about their teammate\u2019s sex or gender identity outside of the team.<\/p>\n

According to the complaint, shortly after Slusser first went public, an administrator reminded her that \u201cspeaking disrespectfully against the school or the NCAA would be against your letter of intent and could affect your scholarship,\u201d which she took as retaliation.<\/p>\n

Two of the plaintiffs, former San Jose State walk-ons Elle Patterson and Alyssa Sugai, said in the lawsuit that they lost potential scholarship opportunities to their transgender teammate in previous seasons because they were not getting as much playing time while playing the same position. Patterson told her coaches she could not afford to pay her own way for another season and left the team. Sugai transferred.<\/p>\n

Neither knew the player identified as transgender when they arrived on campus, they said in the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reason that (the transgender athlete) outperformed Sugai was not effort but was Retained Male Advantage, which Sugai could not match because Sugai is a woman,\u201d the suit says.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit says Batie-Smoose, an associate head coach under Kress for two seasons, observed that Kress was becoming \u201chostile\u201d toward Slusser and herself after she raised concerns about \u201dpreferential treatment\u201d for the transgender athlete. On Oct. 29, Batie-Smoose filed a Title IX complaint with San Jose State, the Mountain West and NCAA alleging discrimination against women and gave an interview to an Australian website. Days later, the school suspended her.<\/p>\n

The NCAA\u2019s transgender participation policy, adopted in 2022, states that transgender women may compete on women\u2019s teams after completing one calendar year of testosterone suppression treatment if they meet their sport\u2019s standard for documented testosterone levels prior to regular-season competition.<\/p>\n

(Photo: David Buono \/ Icon Sportswire 2023)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A federal lawsuit filed Wednesday in Colorado against the Mountain West and its commissioner, Gloria Nevarez, seeks emergency injunctive relief that would