By Matthew Holloway |
A Chandler High School alum and co-captain of Utah State University women’s volleyball team, Kaylie Ray, has reportedly joined a lawsuit with others players from the University of Wyoming, San Jose State University (SJSU), the University of Nevada, and Boise State University.
The group is suing the Mountain West Conference (MWC) and its commissioner, claiming that the conference compelled them to compete with a biological male ‘transgender’ athlete, “stealth-edited its rules to stifle their free speech,” and violated the federal Title IX law.
According to Cowboy State Daily, the lawsuit comes after a San Jose University student, Blaire Fleming, was added to the team as an outside hitter. Fleming, a biological male, is now ranked as the top hitter on the team.
The outlet reported that four schools, in addition to the University of Wyoming, have canceled matches against the SJSU team after outcry from players and university community members expressing concerns over fairness and safety of the female players.
In the text of the lawsuit, the plaintiffs allege that the conference drafted a new rule “hastily,” to mark the cancellations as forfeited losses.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs wrote, “The burgeoning controversy, which Commissioner Nevarez apparently believed could lead women’s volleyball players and teams to exercise their constitutional rights to protest and boycott, caused the commissioner and her staff to hastily draft and post on the MWC website a policy designed to penalize First Amendment protests supporting the rights of women’s volleyball players in the MWC.”
They add, “This new MWC policy was clearly intended to chill and suppress the free speech rights of women athletes in the MWC.”
The players are represented by Attorney Bill Bock and the Independent Council on Women’s Sports (ICONS), who filed the suit in the U.S. District Court for Colorado. Bock told reporters in a statement, “The NCAA, Mountain West Conference, university presidents and college athletic directors around the country are failing women. Because the administrators don’t have the courage to do their jobs, we must ask the federal courts to do their jobs for them.”
Teammates of the ‘transgender’ player are also claiming SJSU defrauded them because they joined the school and the team without prior knowledge that they would be playing with, boarding at times, and competing for scholarships against a biological male. The plaintiffs also argue that their rights under the First 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution were violated, the right to bodily privacy, discrimination, retaliation, and viewpoint discrimination among others.
Fleming became the subject of national attention in October when he spiked the ball during a match, striking SDSU junior Keira Herron in the face with brutal force and knocking the player to the floor. “Keira Herron has some pink in her hair and her face is starting to look like she’s matching that as obviously she took the contact,” a broadcast announcer said in the now viral video.
In the complaint, a player named Brooke Slusser “estimates that Fleming’s spikes were traveling upward of 80 mph, which was faster than she had ever seen a woman hit a volleyball.” The complaint goes on to explain that, “The girls were doing everything they could to dodge Fleming’s spikes but still could not fully protect themselves.”
Women’s sports activist and college swimmer Riley Gaines shared video of Fleming’s spike in a post to X, writing, “Male player from San Jose State @SanJoseStateVB, Blaire Fleming, leads his team to victory against Iowa @IowaVolleyball. Look how high he jumps. Look at the speed of the ball. Not only is this unfair, it’s dangerous.”
Matthew Holloway is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.
