San Jose State is at the center of transgender athlete controversy

On Monday, a federal judge rejected a request to prevent an allegedly transgender player on the San Jose State University (SJSU) women’s volleyball team from playing.

What’s going on?... Earlier this month, two SJSU team members and 10 Mountain West Conference (MWC) women’s volleyball players filed a lawsuit claiming the NCAA and MWC are violating their Title IX rights by allowing a transgender athlete to play for SJSU.

The suit comes after five teams forfeited their matches against SJSU in the regular season, stating their refusal “to participate in any match that advances injustice against female athletes.”

• The athlete in question hasn’t commented publicly on her gender identity. Neither SJSU nor the lawsuit’s plaintiffs have confirmed the school has a transgender player, but the suit’s defendants also haven’t disputed that claim.
• NCAA policy allows transgender women to compete on a women’s team after completing a calendar year of testosterone suppression treatment.

The arguments: The lawsuit alleges the MWC’s current policy allowing transgender athletes to participate was only added in September of this year, after the controversy became public. It also alleges SJSU officials violated players’ free speech rights by instructing them not to disclose the athlete’s sex or gender identity outside of the team.

The lawsuit asked for an emergency injunction declaring the SJSU player ineligible for the MWC tournament this week, and for SJSU's wins to be revoked. But a federal judge denied their request in part because the MWC’s policy has been in place since 2022, ruling the plaintiffs’ delay in filing the case was “not reasonable.”

• The judge also said the plaintiffs failed to show a likelihood of success on the merits of their claim that the SJSU athlete’s participation violates Title IX.

Looking ahead… The judge’s decision was upheld by an appeals court yesterday afternoon, meaning the SJSU athlete will be allowed to play in the MWC tournament. But the plaintiffs say they intend to keep pursuing their case.

More broadly, the NCAA is facing an ongoing lawsuit seeking to prevent college sports’ main governing body from allowing transgender athletes to compete against cisgender women.

📊 Flash poll: In your opinion, should transgender athletes be allowed to compete in women’s sports?

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