Guest post: The concerns are multiple

Originally a comment by Dave Ricks on Be sure to omit all the important facts.

RILEY GAINES et al v. NCAA et al is an excellent reference. This class action lawsuit is funded by the Independent Council on Women’s Sports (ICONS). The ICONS web page about the lawsuit has the latest amended version of the lawsuit as a PDF file (208 pages, filed Sept. 23, 2024).

In this latest version, the list of Plaintiffs (p. 168) adds Brooke Slusser, a volleyball player at San Jose State University (SJSU). In the expanded section on Volleyball (pp. 151-163), she adds details of her experience with Blair Fleming on the SJSU team. Of course there are safety concerns about Fleming hitting harder than women, but I also found these topics that I can group into blockquotes:

651. Brooke was frequently assigned by the SJSU athletic department to room with Fleming on road trips to competitions even though Fleming is male and without Brooke being informed by SJSU that Fleming is male.

658. Brooke did learn however that the reason she had been assigned to room with Fleming so often during road trips in the 2023 season was that SJSU officials asked Fleming who he wanted to room with, and he chose Brooke.

659. At the times she was assigned to room with Fleming during the 2023 season, Brooke had no idea that Fleming was being given the choice of which girl he wanted to room with on team road trips.

672. When the 2024 SJSU women’s volleyball team members returned to campus to begin training for the 2024 season, Brooke learned that none of the nine (9) new recruits on the team for the 2024 season had been told that Fleming is male and participating on the women’s team as a result of the NCAA Transgender Eligibility Policies, even though this was now a well-known fact to the athletic department and virtually everyone at SJSU.

673. Brooke became aware that upon learning that one of their teammates was a trans-identifying male, several of the new recruits became upset, as it was too late for them to transfer, and they felt they had been misled.

690. Due to public attention to Fleming’s transgender status, during the 2024 season SJSU officials have met with all the players on the SJSU women’s volleyball team and again instructed the girls on the SJSU women’s team that they are not to confirm or state to anyone that Fleming is transgender or male, nor are they permitted to criticize Fleming being on the team, or to state their personal feelings or concerns about the matter, including their safety concerns.

691. The SJSU officials said the girls should not worry about any media attention they were getting, because the story “hasn’t hit any media source that matters.”

692. The SJSU officials have also told the girls that to speak about Fleming being transgender would “take away Blaire’s power” and that they “have no right to tell Blaire’s story” or to talk about how Blaire being on the team is impacting them.

698. Due to the NCAA’s Transgender Eligibility Policies which permit Fleming to play on the SJSU women’s volleyball team and which led to SJSU recruiting Fleming, giving Fleming a scholarship, and allowing Fleming to be in positions to violate Brooke’s right to bodily privacy, Brooke has suffered physical and emotional injuries, embarrassment, humiliation, emotional distress, mental anguish and suffering.

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