Several women's volleyball players have filed a lawsuit against the Mountain West Conference and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). They claim their rights are being trampled on because biological men are allowed to participate in sports as women.
Five teams withdrew from the game instead of playing against Braden “Blair” Fleming, a transgender man who was raised male but has since “transitioned” to female. An emergency hearing was held Thursday in hopes of resolving the issue before the start of next week's Mountain West Conference tournament.
The plaintiffs believe Fleming has an advantage over female players and are concerned that Fleming shares a locker room with them.
public hearing
Judge S. Kato Cruz, a Biden appointee, assured litigants that Biden would work to issue a decision in a “timely manner.” The justices heard three hours of oral arguments Thursday. However, he denied witness testimony, even though several plaintiffs had already made plans to attend the hearing for that purpose.
Mr. Cruz began the hearing by saying he would refer to Mr. Fleming by the pronouns “she/her,” but did not require all litigants to do so. Lawyers for one of the defendants, the California State University System, argued that Fleming's name should not be used and that he should be given a pseudonym, but a judge denied that request.
Utah State University joined the lawsuit on behalf of one of its players, Kaylee Ray. The school was one of five teams to lose to San Jose State during the season.
“Women athletes deserve a safe playing field, fair competition, and equal opportunity,” Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, House Speaker Mike Schultz and Senate President Stuart Adams said in a joint statement Monday. He asked the state of Utah to become involved in the lawsuit.
Plaintiffs' concerns
The plaintiffs are seeking an injunction barring Fleming from participating in the tournament. They also want the loss the school suffered when it forfeited a game against Fleming's team, San Jose State, to be removed. And they want San Jose State's win to be nullified.
One of the plaintiffs' main concerns is that the conference violated its own bylaws when it enacted its Transgender Participation Policy (TPP) in September without a formal vote by conference directors. . In other words, the conference bureaucrats essentially enacted policy in secret.
Utah's lawyers argued that “our clients should not be bound by hidden rules.”
The defense acknowledged that there was no vote on adding it to the TPP. They claim Mountain West Conference staff added it in the “public interest.”
The overall case centers on whether the defendants violated Title IX and the First Amendment. However, the emergency hearing focused on whether Fleming would be allowed to play in the upcoming conference tournament.
Do women deserve their own sports or not? Fleming may cross-dress. He may have been surgically altered to look like a woman. But his DNA hasn't changed and, biologically speaking, he's still male.
The Mountain West Conference tournament is scheduled to begin Wednesday.
