A former Alabama volleyball player who now plays at San Jose State is at the center of a controversy over transgender athletes in women’s sports that might soon reach the court room.
According to The Associated Press, Spartans senior co-captain Brooke Slusser has been named as a plaintiff in a lawsuit funded by the Independent Council on Women’s Sports against the NCAA through Title IX. A Texas native, Slusser played at Alabama in 2021 and 2022 before transferring to San Jose State.
The lawsuit alleges that San Jose State has a transgender player on its roster, though neither the school nor the player has confirmed her identity as such. According to the AP, Slusser contends in the lawsuit that her teammate “hits the volleyball with more force than others on the team and that throughout practices this season she and some teammates, who are not named in the lawsuit, have been afraid of suffering concussions from being hit in the head by a volleyball.”
Five opposing teams — Southern Utah, Boise State, Wyoming, Utah State and Nevada — have canceled games against San Jose State. All but Southern Utah are members of the Mountain West Conference along with San Jose State, resulting in forfeits.
Nevada players backed out of Saturday’s match at San Jose State, saying they would “refuse to participate in any match that advances injustice against female athletes.” San Jose State is 11-3 this season, 7-3 in conference play.
The Independent Council on Women’s Sports is suing the NCAA under Title IX, the landmark 1972 federal law that prohibits sexual discrimination in federally funded education. Riley Gaines, a former Kentucky All-America swimmer who is now a political commentator and activist, is also part of the suit.
Republican governors of Idaho, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming have backed the cancelations, while former President (and current GOP presidential nominee) Donald Trump has said he would “ban” transgender athletes in women’s sports. Mountain West commissioner Gloria Nevarez said the controversy is heartbreaking.
“It breaks my heart because they’re human beings, young people, student-athletes on both sides of this issue that are getting a lot of national negative attention,” Nevarez said. “It just doesn’t feel right to me.”
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
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Publish date : 2024-10-27 07:01:00
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