An organization claiming to represent female athletes has filed a lawsuit against the NCAA after women were “blindsided” by the inclusion of an undisclosed transgender player on the San Jose State University women's volleyball team.
Concerned Women of America (CWA) submitted According to FOX News, the NCAA has allowed 6-foot-1-inch Blair Fleming, who identifies as female, to play in San Jose this season without telling the rest of the conference that she will play. The lawsuit was filed in response to the incident, FOX News reported.
“We not only want to protect the integrity of women's sports, but we also want to protect the safety of our female athletes,” CWA President Macy Petty told Fox News.
“Many of these schools didn't know they had a male player on this team until this news story came out in April,” Petty continued. “We just want to make sure that these schools know exactly what's going on with this athletic program, because the NCAA and SJSU have historically not let schools know what's going on. Because they didn't even have the decency to do so.”
“The female athletes were put in the strange position of showing up on the court, looking at the other side and realizing there was something different about this game,” Petty said. “I've never seen an athlete play like this before. This makes a lot of sense considering, first of all, that this athlete isn't a woman, but the internet has never seen a male player play like this. It’s seven inches shorter than it should be.”
Petty added that the female athletes felt “blindsided” by the NCAA and San Jose because they were never informed about Fleming's status or participation.
“There is no informed consent for the schools and female athletes here. They are completely blind when they approach the court and can see there is a male athlete on the other side,” Petty exclaimed.
Petty added that it's unfair that women have to weigh their own safety and dignity against a $100,000 athletic scholarship.
The CWA's lawsuit is not the only lawsuit filed against the NCAA over Fleming's participation.
Riley Gaines, a former NCAA swimming champion and women's rights activist, filed a separate lawsuit. The lawsuit also includes SJSU volleyball player Brooke Slusser, who claims the school failed to inform the women that Fleming was a man who identified as female.
Slusser added that Fleming could hit a spike at 80 miles per hour, “which was faster than I've ever seen a woman hit a volleyball.” She added that female athletes fear concussions from Fleming.
“The NCAA's transgender eligibility rules allow Fleming to play on the SJSU women's volleyball team, and this puts SJSU in a position to recruit Fleming, award Fleming a scholarship, and violate Brooke's right to physical privacy. “He suffered physical and mental injury, embarrassment, humiliation, mental anguish, emotional distress, and suffering,” the complaint states.
Fleming caused an uproar in the women's volleyball world. San Jose currently faces boycotts from Boise State, Southern Utah and the University of Wyoming.
All three teams have already declined to play San Jose because of Fleming's participation.
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