LOGAN – At the invitation of Republican legislative leaders, Utah State University officials have joined a lawsuit against the Mountain West Conference over a transgender athlete competing in women’s sports.
That invitation to USU was issued Nov. 18 by Gov. Spencer Cox, Senate President J. Stuart Adams and House Speaker Mike Schultz. By that same afternoon, Schultz said that the university’s petition to intervene in the lawsuit would be filed in the District Court of Colorado.
“If granted,” Schultz explained, “USU would join 11 women volleyball players from five universities and a coach in requesting the court to enjoin the Mountain West Conference from enforcing its transgender participation policy.”
USU student athlete Kaylie Ray is already a party to that lawsuit.
“Female athletes deserve the right to a safe playing field, fair competition and equal opportunities,” Schultz added. “By intervening, Utah will send a clear message that these rights are non-negotiable.”
The trio of Utah politicians have charged that the National Collegiate Athletic Association, the Mountain West Conference and other institutions across the nation have failed to take responsible action on the issue of transgender athletes, thereby undermining vital Title IX protections and putting female athletes at risk.
At issue is decision by Mountain West commissioners to allow Blaire Fleming, a transgender male playing for San Jose State University, to compete in women’s volleyball.
The lawsuit, which was filed earlier this month against MWC Commissioner Gloria Nevarez, details the experiences of women athletes with Fleming and seeks to ban Fleming from participation in the Mountain West women’s tournament.
Also named in the lawsuit are Todd Kress, the volleyball head coach for San Jose State; Laura Alexander, a senior associate athletic director for SJSU; and Michelle McDonald Smith, an SJSU senior director of media relations.
The USU petition signals that the university is weighing in on the side of plaintiffs in the lawsuit including Kaylie Ray of USU; Brooke Slusser, the volleyball co-captain at SJSU; Nicanora Clarke and Sia Lilii of the University of Nevada; Sierra Grizzle, Macey Boggs and Jordan Sandy of the University of Wyoming; and Katelyn and Kiersten Van Kirk of the Boise State University volley ball team.
Members of the Republican majority in the Utah House of Representatives were on hand on Oct. 29 to see the Utah State Volleyball Team sweep the University of Nevada 3-0 at the Wayne Estes Center on the USU campus.
Organized by Rep. Kera Birkeland (R-Morgan), the lawmakers appeared wearing shirts bearing the motto “BOYcott,” demonstrating their support of the volleyball teams’ principled stand earlier this month to forfeit a scheduled match at San Jose State University.
Under pressure from the LGBTQ+ community, the NCAA Board of Governors adopted a policy in 2022 governing transgender male participation in women’s sports that mirrored those of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic committees.
Despite the NCAA rules, volleyball teams from Nevada, Boise State, the University of Wyoming and Southern Utah University have also declined to take the floor against San Jose State in recent weeks.
In the text of an open letter, Birkeland saluted those schools for supporting their women athletes and called on the leaders of Utah’s institution to defend the right of female athletes to “a safe, level playing field and equal opportunity.”