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A volleyball player’s gender led to secret votes, pressure campaigns and forfeits
An athlete at San José State University is alleged to be transgender. A review of internal communications shows how coaches and administrators navigated the response.
“… The San José State player is in her fourth college season and has appeared in every match the team has played this year. The Washington Post is not naming the player because she has not spoken publicly about her identity and the school has not commented on it. But in September, San José State captain Brooke Slusser said in a lawsuit that she has a transgender teammate, sparking a firestorm in the Mountain West conference.
With the season winding down, five teams, including four in the Mountain West, have forfeited matches against San José State. This month, Slusser and nine more players in the conference sued the Mountain West, its commissioner and San José State Coach Todd Kress, among others, seeking an emergency order to bar the player from competing in next week’s conference tournament in Las Vegas. The new lawsuit also asks for forfeits against SJSU to not count as conference losses and to have the standings redrawn without factoring in those matches.
… The NCAA requires transgender athletes to complete one year of testosterone suppression treatment before competing on a women’s team. The
Mountain West’s policy, as of 2022, is that an athlete can compete if they meet those requirements.
… Along with the 10 active players, Melissa Batie-Smoose, SJSU’s associate head coach who is suspended from the program, is also in the group bringing the suit. She is against having a player who is alleged to be transgender on the Spartans’ roster — and she had filed a Title IX complaint alleging the player conspired with an opponent to injure Slusser, the SJSU captain who is also part of the lawsuit.
Kress
told ESPN that a media report on the accusations in the complaint was “littered with lies.”
The Mountain West later found “insufficient evidence” to corroborate the allegations, according to a person familiar with the conference’s process. A school spokeswoman declined to offer specifics on why Batie-Smoose is away from the team. Batie-Smoose did not respond to a request for comment. …”