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.”
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.