A group of female college volleyball players and a suspended San Jose State University coach filed a lawsuit in Colorado federal court on Wednesday, seeking to bar a transgender athlete from competing. The lawsuit alleges that the Mountain West Conference and other entities discriminated against female athletes by allowing an outside hitter, Blaire Fleming, to remain on San Jose State University’s (SJSU) women’s volleyball roster.
Volleyball players sue Mountain West : Title IX Violation Claims
The plaintiffs, comprising 11 current and former female athletes from five Mountain West universities, along with Melissa Batie-Smoose, the suspended associate head coach of SJSU’s women’s volleyball team, filed a 129-page, 12-count complaint. They argue that the conference, SJSU, and other associated parties violated Title IX requirements by permitting Fleming to compete on the women’s team.
According to the complaint, Fleming, who they claim “is male,” should not be eligible to participate in women’s sports. The plaintiffs are seeking both preliminary and permanent injunctions to prevent SJSU from allowing Fleming to compete in the upcoming Mountain West Conference (MWC) volleyball championship set to take place in Las Vegas later this month.
Allegations of Discrimination and Free Speech Suppression
The lawsuit accuses the Mountain West Conference, SJSU, and other universities of engaging in a “purposeful and illegal assault on the rights of women athletes” by upholding the NCAA’s Transgender Eligibility Policies (TEP). These policies, the plaintiffs argue, are flawed due to reliance on “unreliable testosterone suppression” methods and are currently under legal scrutiny in a separate proposed class action led by former University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines.
