Female athletes were ’emotionally blackmailed’ by SJSU trans volleyball scandal, says Riley Gaines
Witnesses at a state legislative hearing in Boise, Idaho, on Thursday recounted the “horror” some women’s college volleyball players experienced during the 2024 season amid national controversy including a trans athlete.
The testimony came during a hearing discussing the proposed Women’s Sports Equity Act by Idaho state representative Barbara Erhardt.
San Jose State University, whose volleyball team included player Blaire Fleiming, and the Mountain West Conference are facing a lawsuit from multiple volleyball players who claim the school withheld from players the fact that Fleming is biologically male. The lawsuit also alleges that Fleming was awarded a roster spot and scholarship over the players who claim they were emotionally and financially affected by the experience.
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Fleming led the Spartans all the way to the Mountain West Championship game amid the lawsuit. However, opponents lost eight of San Jose State’s games amid the controversy, including the conference tournament semifinals game against Boise State.
Boise State surrendered a total of three games against SJSU in 2024, and Erhardt and other speakers at the debate praised them for the decision.
One parent of a player at the conference gave his description of the situation Thursday. She also condemned all the schools that did not submit to SJSU.
“I’m a mom from Idaho who experienced it firsthand with a daughter who played in the Mountain West Conference,” said a woman named April Cheney.
“NCAA President Charlie Baker, Mountain West Commissioner Gloria Nevarez and all Mountain West college presidents and athletic directors who did not boycott, you have failed to protect women’s sports. The NCAA and the Mountain West Conference, I blame you for a season that lasted a year of eligibility, forced losses to record like the losses and the conference championship which was a complete disgrace!”
Former NCAA swimmer and prominent conservative influencer Riley Gaines, who regularly organizes with other female athletes affected by transgender inclusion and is leading a lawsuit against the NCAA over the issue, revealed her account of what the players went through, based on interviews with them.
“They were emotionally blackmailed into believing they were the problem,” Gaines said of the players, adding that Boise State was the only university that showed administrative support for players who wanted to drop out.
“The vast majority of them did not want this to happen to them. Nobody asked for this, this is not a situation they wanted to be in,” Gaines added. “These girls were terrified, they were terrified to stand up, they were terrified to stand up for themselves, they were terrified of the things that could potentially happen if they just said ‘Men and women are different’.”
Marshi Smith, co-founder of the legal advocacy group Independent Council on Women’s Sports, testified in which she said female athletes who joined the lawsuit felt threatened by retaliation from their university if they spoke out against trans inclusion.
“What will it do to make us talk?” players often asked, according to Smith.
Smith elaborated on these players’ questions in a subsequent statement to Fox News Digital.
“They’re often terrified of losing their scholarships or being kicked off their teams. At San Jose State, administrators exploited those fears by telling them to shut up because it’s Blaire Fleming’s story, not theirs,” Smith said.
San Jose State provided a statement to Fox News Digital in response to statements made at Thursday’s hearing.
“All San Jose State University student-athletes are eligible to participate in their respective sports under NCAA and Mountain West Conference rules,” the statement read.
Smith also alleges that volleyball players at the University of Nevada, Reno, were threatened with legal action if they refused to compete against San Jose State in a game that was scheduled for October but never played.
“At UNR, school administrators warned the athletes that they could face legal action if they refused to compete against SJSU’s team, which included a male starter,” Smith said.
Nevada did not respond to a request for comment on Smith’s allegations. The university has previously provided statement saying the athletes are free not to play the game without discipline and that the game goes ahead to comply with a state law aimed at preventing discrimination against transgender people.
After the players pleaded with their university weeks before the game to commit to SJSU, the university denied the request and released a statement insisting it would play the game. But when the players went public with their complaints about the situation, sparking weeks of controversy. In the end, Nevada had to cancel the game on October 25th, just one day before it was supposed to be played, because they did not have enough players willing to play.
However, even with the suspensions of Nevada, Boise State, Utah State, Southern Utah and Wyoming this season, dozens of other players were still forced to play against Fleming, some not even knowing the nature of the player’s birth gender.
Their first opponent this season, Louisiana Tech, took the field against Fleming without knowing the player’s biological sex.
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Louisiana Tech head volleyball coach Amber McCray confirmed to Fox News Digital that her team was unaware of the situation involving Fleming’s natural birth gender, and only found out the day after the match through a rumor from her parents.
LA Tech athletic director Ryan Ivey suggested that if they had known Fleming’s natural gender, the team would have been “looking for a ‘different outcome,'” in emails obtained by Fox News Digital.
There are also Fleming’s teammates, including former SJSU co-captain Brooke Slusser, who is leading the lawsuit against the Mountain West and also signed Gaines’ lawsuit against the NCAA, citing her experience with Fleming.
Slusser told Fox News Digital that the experience was “traumatic.”
“This season has been so traumatizing that I don’t even have the proudest moment,” Slusser said.
In Slusser’s ongoing lawsuit against SJSU and the Mountain West, her list of plaintiffs also includes players Alyssa Sugai, Elle Patterson, Sia Liilii, Nicanora Clarke, Kaylie Ray, Macey Boggs, Sierra Grizzle, Jordan Sandy, Katelyn Van Kirk, Kiersten Van Kirk and former SJSU assistant volleyball coach Melissa Batie-Smoose.
SJSU also recently acknowledged the recent mass exodus of volleyball players entering the transfer portal, as nearly every remaining player still eligible is now looking to leave the program.
“Student-athletes have the ability to make decisions about their athletic careers in college, and we have the utmost respect for that,” the statement said.
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