The controversy surrounding the San Jose State University’s women’s volleyball team is getting more complicated as opposing teams continue to forfeit matches amid reports that Spartans redshirt senior Blaire Fleming is transgender.
Fleming played the previous two seasons at San Jose State — after one year with Coastal Carolina — in virtual anonymity before her presence on the Spartans’ roster this season suddenly started making national headlines.
It seemingly began when Southern Utah forfeited its match against San Jose State in the Santa Clara Tournament last month.
That sparked a series of forfeits from three other schools — Boise State, Wyoming and Utah State — in recent weeks.
It further became public that Fleming’s teammate, roommate and team co-captain Brooke Slusser joined several other female athletes in a lawsuit suing the NCAA for violations of its Title XI inclusion of trans athletes in college sports.
The class-action lawsuit was filed in March and funded by the Independent Council on Women’s Sports (ICONS).
In a Sept. 30 interview with OutKick, Slusser, a junior starting setter, explained it was “an easy decision” for her to join the lawsuit against the NCAA.
“It’s crazy to say, but it was an easy decision for me to join because it’s something I truly believe in. And it’s been easy because all the support that I’m getting — 99 percent of it is just love and encouragement,” Slusser said. “So, for me, it shows that I made the right decision to join. This is something that so many people do care about. It’s just that so many people are scared to talk about it.”
Slusser said she lived with Fleming and three other teammates — and that she did not know at first that Fleming is transgender.
Slusser said the SJSU athletic department would assign her to room with Fleming on road trips, and then she later learned that Fleming specifically requested her as a roommate.
She claimed the SJSU athletic department discouraged players from speaking about the matter.
“It was more so the school only supporting Blaire, and they didn’t really seem to want to check in on us,” Slusser said. “Basically, ‘You shouldn’t be the person to identify Blaire’s gender identity. That’s something that Blaire needs to do, and not you. That’s not your story to tell.’
“But we all have a story, too. This isn’t just something that Blaire’s going through. This is something that I’m going through, too, and my teammates. I have so many emotions and questions, and I don’t know how to voice them.”
Despite being confident in her decision to join the lawsuit, Slusser admitted things have been “awkward” within the team.
“It’s definitely something that I thought about really hard. And I think the hardest part about the whole situation is that this team really loves each other. My best friends are on this team,” she said. “Just having to go through this breaks me, because the team is full of such loving, caring women, and to put them all through this is absolutely absurd.
“I might only have three months left ever of playing volleyball. I already used my transfer, so I can’t transfer again. It was either I walk away from volleyball forever or I kind of swallow this hard pill, suck it up and play, do what I can for my team and protect them any way I can.”
The NCAA said it will “continue to promote Title IX, make unprecedented investments in women’s sports and ensure fair competition for all student-athletes in all NCAA championships” in a statement to The National News Desk (TNND).
“It was a really hard pill to swallow, because I couldn’t comprehend the fact that there was a man on the team, and it was almost as if I was in denial for a really long time that this was happening,” Slusser said. “So it was just really hard for me to wrap my head around.
“And then, it still being a topic we weren’t really allowed to talk about. It was just kind of whispers behind closed doors that this is what’s happening, but no one’s really talked about it or addressed it.”
OutKick also reported that San Jose State University hid Fleming’s birth gender for two years.
Slusser said the decision to speak out is not just about her and it’s “about making a change for the little girls who are going to be playing sports for all the years to come and being able to protect them.”
Fleming, a 6-foot outside and right-side hitter, is considered a top player on SJSU’s women’s volleyball team, which is off to a strong start to the season.
The Spartans are 9-1 after losing their first match of the season Thursday night against Colorado State.
During the first set Thursday, Slusser celebrated after scoring a point with her teammates, including Fleming, libero Randilyn Reeves and libero Alessia Buffagni, in a photo of the players slapping hands.
That matchup was sandwiched in between forfeits against fellow Mountain West Conference rivals, Boise State and Wyoming.
None of the schools have specifically said why they are forfeiting the games, but the implication has been clear.
Boise State forfeited its scheduled Sept. 28 match against SJSU a few days after Idaho’s republican governor Brad Little signed an executive order barring Boise State from playing against trans athletes on Sept. 23.
The respective forfeit decisions were also celebrated by Utah Governor Spencer J. Cox, Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon and Idaho Senator Jim Risch, who’ve backed the schools’ decisions.
On Wednesday, SJSU said the recent forfeitures have denied opportunities for its student-athletes.
“It is disappointing that our SJSU student athletes, who are in full compliance with NCAA and Mountain West rules and regulations, are being denied opportunities to compete,” a spokesperson told the TNND.
“We are committed to supporting our student-athletes through these challenges and in their ability to compete in an inclusive, fair, safe and respectful environment.”
The University of Nevada, another Mountain West school, told OutKick its women’s volleyball “remains focused on its upcoming matches… including the match with [SJSU] on October 26.
“The University will continue to abide by the NCAA, Mountain West Conference and USA Volleyball rules and regulations as well as the laws and Constitution of the State of Nevada,” a statement from the university said.
Prior to transferring to San Jose, Fleming played one season for the women’s volleyball at Coastal Carolina University in 2020.
In 2022, the “Save Women’s Sports Act” — which requires athletes in South Carolina schools from elementary school to college to compete based on their gender assigned at birth — went into law in the state.
Fleming also played on the girls varsity volleyball team at John Champe High School in Virginia.
In April, Reduxx, a website described as “feminist news and opinion,” published a story claiming Fleming was a biological male with the assigned birth name, Brayden.
The outlet included an exclusive interview with the mother of an opposing player, who spoke under anonymity and claimed there was widespread speculations that Fleming was male.
The parent also claimed “officials from San Jose State let it slip to her daughter’s team that even they were unaware of his biological sex.”