Debate over transgender athletes’ participation in sports hits San Jose State – East Bay Times

SAN JOSE — San Jose State University is at the center of a debate over whether transgender athletes should be allowed to compete at the collegiate level.

Spartan senior Brooke Slusser, co-captain of the varsity women’s volleyball team, has joined a lawsuit accusing the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) of allegedly discriminating against women by allowing transgender women to compete in women’s sports.

Slusser claims in her lawsuit that one of her teammates is transgender, arguing that she has a physical advantage over her teammates and opponents. Slusser also claims she was not informed that her teammate was transgender, even though tourism properties placed them together. This news organization is not naming the student.

The NCAA’s Transgender Eligibility Rules, updated in 2022, are consistent with policies adopted by the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee and the International Olympic Committee that call for transgender participation in sports to be governed by the regulations of each sport’s national governing body.

In addition to the lawsuit, two teams have opted out of games against the Spartans in the past few weeks – Southern Utah, which was scheduled to play San Jose State in the Sept. 14 tournament, and most recently Boise State, which was scheduled to play Saturday. .

Neither team gave a reason for the resignations, but Idaho Gov. Brad Little and Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, praised Boise State for, as Risch put it, “taking a stand on women in sports” in posts on X, formerly Twitter, on Friday.

According to statistics posted on the San Jose State women’s volleyball program’s website, Boise State defeated San Jose State twice last season when both Slusser and a student she identified as transgender were on the team.

Michelle Smith McDonald, San Jose State’s senior director of media relations, confirmed in a statement Saturday that Boise State had opted out, defended the university’s volleyball program and noted that officials do not comment on the gender of any student covered by federal privacy protections.

“We operate our program in accordance with both NCAA and Mountain West Conference regulations. Our student-athletes fully comply with NCAA rules and regulations,” the statement read.

LGBTQ advocates have condemned what they say is a rising tide of anti-trans rhetoric.

“Attacks on transgender participation in sports have increased in recent years, and evidence suggests that these efforts are less about protecting women’s sports and more about facilitating the exclusion of transgender people from public life,” wrote the journalist and rights activist transgender Erin Reed. news that Boise State lost its game against San Jose State.