A federal judge ruled Monday that a volleyball player for the San Jose State University women’s team, who is at the center of controversy about transgender athletes, can compete in this week’s conference tournament.
Judge S. Kato Crews, with the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado, denied the emergency motion for a preliminary injunction filed this month against the Mountain West Conference.
The plaintiffs in the lawsuit that preceded the emergency motion included San Jose’s co-captain Brooke Slusser and 10 athletes from other schools who argued that their Title IX rights are being violated by allowing the athlete to play for a women’s sports team, according to the news outlet.
The 132-page lawsuit sought to prevent the player from participating in the conference tournament.
In addition to barring the athlete from the tournament, the emergency motion also sought to rescind the conference’s policy that establishes wins, losses and forfeits if a member of a non-canceling team has a transgender player; rescind the wins SJSU had and losses against teams that refused to play SJSU and to recalculate winning percentages based on games from earlier this season that some teams forfeited and apply the new calculations, and seedings, to the conference tournament that begins Wednesday.
Several conference teams have refused to play SJSU and instead forfeited the games.
The player, whom NBC News is not naming, has never spoken publicly, and SJSU has not confirmed that one of its players is transgender.
In Monday’s ruling, the judge determined that the emergency motion was a heavy lift for the conference at the 11th hour and was not needed because teams that had previously forfeited did so knowing the conference’s 2022 transgender policy.
“The relief requested with the Emergency Motion would risk confusion and upend months of planning and would prejudice, at a minimum, Defendants and other teams participating in the tournament depending on the results of any reseeding. On balance, the equities favor the MWC’s interest in conducting and proceeding with the tournament as planned,” the ruling read.
The judge also cited other laws and previous rulings noting that it’s impossible to discriminate against a person based on transgender status without discriminating against them based on sex.
In a statement Monday, San Jose State lauded the judge’s decision.
“San José State University will continue to support its student-athletes and reject discrimination in all forms,” the university said said. “All San José State University student-athletes are eligible to participate in their sports under NCAA and Mountain West Conference rules.”
The Mountain West Conference has said it is taking the suit’s allegations seriously.
“The Mountain West Conference prioritizes the best interests of our student-athletes and takes great care to adhere to NCAA and MW policies,” the group said in a statement. “While we are unable to comment on the pending litigation of this particular situation, we take seriously all concerns of student-athlete welfare and fairness.”
Last month, multiple teams canceled games against San Jose State, including on Oct. 24, when the University of Nevada, Reno, canceled citing it would not have enough players.
Nevada players announced that they were refusing “to participate in any match that advances injustice against female athletes,” without providing further details. The school’s athletic department said it wouldn’t back out from the match, referencing state equality laws, but added that no players would be disciplined.
The game was switched to San Jose, California, “in the interest of both programs,” the teams said in a joint statement — with no further explanation — before Nevada elected to forfeit.
Earlier this season, Southern Utah, Boise State, Wyoming and Utah State also canceled games against their conference foe.
This month, a group of more than a dozen Republican lawmakers urged the Mountain West to ban transgender women from competition after it was reported that a trans student competed on the women’s volleyball team.
In a letter sent Nov. 18 to the commissioner of the Mountain West Conference, Republican senators and representatives said the conference was violating Title IX sex discrimination protections and failing to meet its own requirements regarding gender equity.
“Permitting biological men to play in women’s sports is not equitable; it is an injustice,” the letter reads. “Under these guidelines, it is only fair that biological males play men’s sports and biological females play women’s sports.”
“Clearly, the Mountain West Conference has dropped the ball,” it continues.
The group of GOP lawmakers included Sens. Mitt Romney and Mike Lee and Reps. John Curtis, Blake Moore, Burgess Owens and Celeste Maloy of Utah; Sens. Mike Crapo and James Risch and Reps. Russ Fulcher and Mike Simpson of Idaho; and Sens. John Barrasso and Sen. Cynthia Lummis and Rep. Harriet Hageman of Wyoming.
