Congress passed Title IX in 1972 to address the inequalities that many women and girls faced in education. Perhaps no area has seen more growth than athletics as opportunities for women and girls in sports have skyrocketed in the last 50 years.
But recently, a new threat has emerged for female athletes. In some jurisdictions, men identifying as women have been allowed to take spots on women’s sports teams, both displacing female athletes and threatening the privacy and safety of those competing. One women’s volleyball team in California is experiencing these problems firsthand.
A violation of privacy and safety
Brooke Slusser plays on the women’s volleyball team at San Jose State University (SJSU). She recently joined a lawsuit against the NCAA for allowing men to compete in women’s sports and use female locker rooms. Brooke’s story demonstrates the serious threats to a team’s safety, athletes’ privacy, and fair competition that arise when men are allowed to compete on women’s sports teams.
According to the lawsuit, when Brooke transferred to SJSU in 2023, she began sharing a residence with teammate Blaire Fleming. At Fleming’s request, San Jose State’s athletic department also assigned Brooke to share a room with Fleming on many of the team’s road trips.
It wasn’t until late in the 2023 volleyball season that Brooke overheard a conversation about Fleming being a “guy.” This was the first time she began to question whether she had unknowingly been sharing intimate spaces with a male for months. While Brooke was surprised to hear about her roommate’s sex, the facts lined up: Fleming was the most powerful player on the team in terms of sheer strength.
It took the publication of an article mentioning Fleming’s sex in April 2024 for Fleming to finally tell Brooke about being “born male,” the lawsuit alleges. Brooke told Fleming she was uncomfortable with a male player competing on the women’s volleyball team, but SJSU coaches told the team not to speak publicly about Fleming’s true sex.
Those circumstances, as well as fear for the safety of herself and others (since Brooke knew that Fleming hits the ball “far harder than any woman she had ever played against”) led Brooke to join the lawsuit against the NCAA.
Standing up to protect women’s sports
Brooke is not the only one taking a stand against the unfair and unsafe conditions that have arisen from Fleming’s participation on the team. During the 2024 season, Boise State, Southern Utah, Wyoming, and Utah State have all forfeited games against SJSU.
Idaho Gov. Brad Little, Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon, and Utah Gov. Spencer Cox each commended the universities in their states for their decisions to protect their female athletes.
“I stand with the students, coaches and leadership at [Southern Utah and Utah State] in their decision to forgo their women’s volleyball matches against San Jose State,” Gov. Cox wrote in a post on X.
“It is essential that we preserve a space for women to compete fairly and safely. Our female athletes are left grappling with this difficult issue because the NCAA has failed in its responsibility to protect female athletes and women’s sports. It’s time for the NCAA to take this seriously and protect our female student athletes.”
Not every team received such a strong endorsement for their stand. After the four schools forfeited, the University of Nevada’s team attempted to do so as well. In a statement, players said, “We demand that our right to safety and fair competition on the court be upheld. We refuse to participate in any match that advances injustice against female athletes.”
Unlike in the previous four cases, however, the players at the University of Nevada didn’t receive much support from their school’s administration, which announced that the athletes’ decision “does not represent the position of the university.” As of this writing, it remains to be seen whether the team will play San Jose State.
But despite university officials’ statements, the words and actions of these female athletes are catching people’s attention.
San Jose State’s head volleyball coach bemoaned the forfeitures by saying that he believed “government and politics has kind of intertwined itself with college sports.” He’s not wrong, but what he fails to understand is that keeping men out of women’s sports shouldn’t be a political issue.
Of course, female athletes shouldn’t have to forfeit games just to make the point that men don’t belong in women’s sports. But until the NCAA acknowledges the truth about what it means to be male and female, declining to compete against males is one of the best options for female athletes to make their voices heard.
ADF will continue defending women and girls
In addition to college athletics, male athletes identifying as female have begun to displace girls in middle school and high school sports. In 2023, the high school girls’ basketball team at Mid Vermont Christian School took a stand of its own by forfeiting a game against a team with a male player.
But the Vermont Principals’ Association (VPA) responded by expelling Mid Vermont Christian from all VPA sports and activities because of the school’s beliefs. Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys filed a lawsuit against Vermont officials on behalf of Mid Vermont Christian, some students, and their families.
Unfortunately, the Biden administration has further threatened female athletes’ privacy and safety with rule changes that could make the issue of men in women’s sports even more widespread. The administration is attempting to redefine “sex” in Title IX to include “gender identity,” gutting opportunities for women in sports by allowing men who identify as women to take their places.
But ADF quickly filed lawsuits in five different jurisdictions, and we received injunctions pausing the Biden administration’s rule change in all five cases. Between these injunctions and others from additional lawsuits regarding this issue, the Biden administration’s Title IX rewrite has been paused in 26 states and thousands of schools across the country.
If the Biden administration’s radical changes are allowed to stand, stories like the one unfolding at San Jose State will become even more common. ADF is asking courts around the country to permanently strike down the administration’s illegal Title IX rule changes so that women and girls will be protected.
