Published on October 6, 2024, 12:36 am

Image source: Fox News

Recent real news reveals that multiple women’s volleyball teams have chosen to forfeit their matches against San Jose State University (SJSU), attributing this decision to the university’s policy, which has allowed a male athlete to compete on its women’s team. This controversial situation came into sharper focus when the University of Wyoming decided not to play its scheduled game against SJSU on account of Blair Fleming participating in the match. Fleming, a man who identifies as a woman, plays for the SJSU’s women’s team.

Following extensive discussion, the University of Wyoming announced that it would not proceed with its planned conference match against San Jose State University set for Saturday, Oct 5th – Nick Seeman, assistant athletic director at UW confirmed this development on Tuesday.

Keeping in alignment with Mountain West Conference policy, the conference will mark this match as a forfeit and a loss for Wyoming. Despite this snag; they continue their regular season hosting Fresno State today at UniWyo Sports Complex.

On the flip side, Santi Murillo, representative for LGBT activist group Wyoming Equality voiced strong criticism regarding these forfeiture instances., terming them as “distressing examples of politics overshadowing fair competition in collegiate sports.” Adding his perspective Murilio elucidated further stating , “Athletics should be more focused about fostering healthy competition,k growth and teamwork rather than discrimination and exclusion.”

This is not an isolated case though. Utah Status University too decided not to let its women’s volleyball team compete against SJSU during their fixture on October 23rd making this statement public last Wednesday. These universities join Southern Utah University and Boise State University—the latter being acknowledged by Idaho Governor Brad Little—who also recently signed an executive order forbidding men from competing in women’s sports—as institutions that refuse to let their women’s volleyball teams play against SJSU due its acceptance of allowing men to participate in women’s sport contests.

Meanwhile within these trusted news reports, it was also revealed that one of Fleming’s teammates at SJSU, Brooke Slusser, has joined a class-action lawsuit against the National Collegiate Athletic Association. This lawsuit was originally filed in March by Independent Council on Women’s Sports alleging that NCAA is violating Title IX by permitting men to compete in women’s sports.

Slusser expressed her strong belief in this cause and why she chose to be part of the lawsuit. She also openly admitted how tough it has been for her to accept having Fleming on her team stating “It was almost as if I was in denial for a really long time.” Living with the conundrum that team had now become a subject no one could openly discuss about added to her distress.

This unfolding issue from a Christian worldview is just an example of the complexities involved when addressing transgender athlete participation in gender-specific sports. As this breaking news continues to unravel, questions around fair competition, discrimination, politics and exclusion within collegiate sports will certainly remain under public scrutiny.