DENVER — A federal judge cleared the way for a transgender volleyball player to compete this week in the Mountain West Conference women’s championships, rejecting an emergency motion filed by female athletes to declare the male-born standout ineligible.
U.S. District Judge S. Kato Crews said temporary injunctive relief is intended to preserve the status quo pending the outcome of a trial, but that an order to remove San Jose State University player Blaire Fleming would disrupt it.
The 11 current and former players, as well as San Jose State associate coach Melissa Batie-Smoose and Utah State University, asked the court to reconfigure the standings and revoke the Transgender Participation Policy ahead of the tournament, which starts Wednesday.
“Considering the nature of this relief, the Court finds it alters the status quo because SJSU’s alleged trans teammate has been on its roster since 2022 and throughout the 2024 season, and because the TPP has been in effect (whether or not posted publicly) since August of 2022,” the judge said in his 28-page order.
He also said the motion comes too late to address the damage it seeks to prevent, given that the conference has already determined the brackets and seedings for the championship tournament.
“Thus, the harms the Emergency Motion seeks to avert regarding the TPP have already occurred,” said Judge Crews, a Biden appointee. “This further weighs against finding irreparable harm to support a preliminary injunction.”
That ruling means that San Jose State will be able to bring Fleming to the four-day conference championship tournament in Las Vegas. The team will also keep its No. 2 seed.
The Independent Council on Women’s Sports, which has supported the lawsuit financially, said that an appeal has already been filed with the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Bill Bock, attorney for the female athletes, said the appeal was needed “to protect the women volleyball players who are about to compete for a conference championship.”
“These courageous women volleyball players continue to stand strong for the rights of women,” Bock said. “The Mountain West’s policies dramatically harm women and we want to give the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals the opportunity to intervene to stop these harms as quickly as possible.”
Last week, a Biden-appointed federal judge held a hearing for the volleyball players suing the Mountain West Conference. He barred the female athletes from testifying.
— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) November 25, 2024
Today, he ruled in favor of the less-than-mediocre man.
The girls plan to appeal the ruling. pic.twitter.com/iSBH0zrknP
A redshirt senior, Fleming has not publicly acknowledged being transgender, but the conference essentially confirmed the athlete’s status by penalizing four teams under its transgender policy for forfeiting games against San Jose State.
San Jose State said after the ruling that it would “continue to support its student-athletes and reject discrimination in all forms.”
“All San Jose State University student-athletes are eligible to participate in their sports under NCAA and Mountain West Conference rules,” the Monday statement said. “We are gratified that the Court rejected an eleventh-hour attempt to change those rules. Our team looks forward to competing in the Mountain West volleyball tournament this week.”
Also cheering the decision was the California State University system, which was also sued by the female volleyball players. San Jose State belongs to the Cal State system.
“CSU does not tolerate discrimination of any kind, on or off the court,” the Cal State statement said. “We applaud the Court’s decision and will be cheering on the San José State University volleyball team as they continue to compete for a championship in the Mountain West Conference tournament.”
The winner of the conference tournament will receive an automatic berth at the NCAA Division I women’s volleyball championship, which begins Dec. 1.
Fleming, who ranks fourth in the conference in kills percentage, played at Coastal Carolina University in Conway, South Carolina, for a season before transferring to San Jose State ahead of the 2022 season.
Several players have said they were unaware that Fleming was transgender until the athlete’s status was exposed in an April article in Reduxx.
Among those suing to block Fleming from the championship is San Jose State co-captain Brooke Slusser, who has said she was assigned to room with Fleming on road trips without knowing that the player was a biological male.
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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