SJSU Volleyball Gets Police Security Amid Apparent Protest Over Transgender Athlete Rules

Updated 1:45 p.m. Thursday

A string of forfeits against the San José State University women’s volleyball team grew for the second straight day this week as Utah State pulled out of an upcoming match, joining three other teams in an apparent protest over the NCAA’s rules allowing transgender women to compete in women’s sports.

The decision to forfeit the Oct. 23 match, which the San Francisco Chronicle reported was initially posted on Utah State’s website on Wednesday before the post disappeared, was confirmed Thursday by a spokesperson for SJSU, who said the university was providing security for the team.

A day earlier, the University of Wyoming said it was pulling out of its match this weekend against SJSU. The decision, which followed forfeits by Boise State University last week and Southern Utah University last month, came amid mounting pressure from Wyoming lawmakers, including Gov. Mark Gordon, who wrote on social media platform X: “I am in full support of the decision by @wyoathletics to forego playing its volleyball match against San Jose State. It is important we stand for integrity and fairness in female athletics.”

Wyoming did not specify a reason for its forfeit, providing only a short statement.

“After a lengthy discussion, the University of Wyoming will not play its scheduled conference match against San José State University in the UniWyo Sports Complex on Saturday, Oct. 5,” the university’s statement reads. “Per Mountain West Conference policy, the Conference will record the match as a forfeit and a loss for Wyoming.”

The university declined to comment further.

In 2022, the NCAA changed its transgender student-athlete participation policy to require transgender athletes to undergo testosterone testing and meet sport-specific levels to compete in women’s divisions. The association is currently facing a lawsuit over its move to allow transgender women to compete in women’s sports, filed in Georgia, which says it aims to “remedy sex discrimination against women in college athletics.”

SJSU has become a target in this debate, as a member of the school’s team recently joined the lawsuit against the NCAA. In the lawsuit, Brooke Slusser, a junior at SJSU, said that one of her teammates she roomed with is transgender and repeatedly misgenders her. KQED is not naming the teammate.

In a statement, SJSU spokesperson Michelle Smith McDonald confirmed that all volleyball team members comply with the NCAA and the Mountain West Conference rules and regulations.

“It is disappointing that our SJSU student-athletes… are being denied opportunities to compete,” she wrote. “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.”

University police are providing security for the team at home and road games, Smith McDonald said.

While Republican politicians like those in Wyoming and Idaho have voiced support for the teams refusing to play SJSU, advocates for transgender rights are speaking out.

“It is doubling down on a policy of discrimination and exclusion instead of fostering what we should be fostering as part of athletics, which is camaraderie and competition,” said Tom Temprano, a spokesperson for the LGBTQ+ rights organization Equality California. “Instead, we’re centering these divisive values and discriminatory actions, which I would imagine the vast, vast majority of these student-athletes are unhappy with and would be opposed to.”

SJSU is scheduled to play against Colorado State University on Thursday. CSU did not respond to a request for comment on whether it plans to forfeit the game but did post a game preview to its website on Tuesday.

KQED’s Jared Servantez contributed to this report.