SJSU can play in volleyball tournament with transgender player, appeals court rules
Brooke Slusser #10 and Blaire Fleming #3 of the San Jose State Spartans call a play during the first set against the Air Force Falcons at Falcon Court at East Gym on October 19, 2024 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. (Photo by Andrew Wevers/Getty Images
SAN JOSE, Calif. - A federal court upheld a ruling that allows a San Jose State women's volleyball team member to play in Wednesday's Mountain West Conference tournament after teammates said she shouldn't be able to play because she is transgender.
The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday agreed with U.S. District Judge S. Kato Crews, who rejected the request for an emergency injunction.
The Colorado-based judge found the nine players who challenged the conference's policy for allowing transgender athletes to participate should have filed the complaint earlier.
Crews also cited a Supreme Court ruling in 2020 that said a federal law against sex discrimination in employment also prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, including transgender status.
The appeals court noted that the conference announced its transgender policy in 2022, the player’s transgender status was known to her teammates this year, and schools that refused to play San Jose State began forfeiting games in September.
Yet, the court noted, the plaintiffs waited until mid-November to file their challenge.
Keeping San Jose State out of the tournament or requiring the team to remove its transgender player "at this late hour would be highly prejudicial and harmful" to the school and the conference, the appellate court said.
Last week, San Jose State volleyball captain, Brooke Slusser, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, told KTVU why she outed the transgender player: She fears for her physical safety.
"I just don't think it's right in women's sports," Slusser said in the interview. "It has nothing to do with the way someone wants to live their life day to day, that's not an issue. But when it comes to the fairness and safety of women playing, there's a reason there's two different divisions for women and men."
The conference is being held in Las Vegas. San Jose State is supposed to play on Friday, either against Utah State or Boise State.
Both schools have forfeited to the Spartans this season, and players on both teams are listed as plaintiffs in this lawsuit.