Transgender volleyball player Blaire Fleming was among those honored in the Mountain West’s postseason awards on Tuesday.
Fleming, who is a biological male, has been in the eye of a storm over recent months, with multiple opponents refusing to play against San Jose State due to safety concerns.
The redshirt senior is also at the center of a lawsuit involving her own teammates, who sued their head coach, the college and the Mountain West, demanding Fleming is declared ineligible for the Conference tournament.
San Jose State coach Melissa Batie-Smoose, meanwhile, accused the school of trying to ‘silence’ her after she was suspended following complaints about Fleming.
The NCAA is also facing a class-action lawsuit from more than a dozen female athletes, who accuse the organization of knowingly violating a law that prohibits sex-based discrimination.
On Tuesday, however, Fleming was named an All-Mountain West Team Honorable Mention, alongside teammate Brooke Slusser, who is involved in the lawsuits over Fleming’s place on the roster.
Transgender volleyball player Blaire Fleming was honored in the Mountain West awards
Several schools have refused to play women’s volleyball against San Jose State’s trans player
Brooke Slusser has publicly spoken about how Fleming’s inclusion has affected the team
Colorado State’s Malaya Jones was named the Mountain West Player of the Year.
That is despite her being accused of conspiring with Fleming to throw a game – and ‘blast’ Stusser – during a game last month.
The awards came after a judge denied a last-minute attempt to ban Fleming from the conference championship tournament as well as from any possible future NCAA Tournament games.
Judge Kato Crews ruled that the lawsuit ‘was not reasonable’ and that it ‘would risk confusion and upend months of planning and would prejudice, at a minimum, (San Jose State) and other teams participating in the tournament.’
The decision sparked outrage from many people on social media, including former college swimmer Riley Gaines.
Gaines, an outspoken advocate against transgender women in women’s sports, said: ‘A federal judge just ruled in favor of a male athlete who has been injuring defenseless women in volleyball for years.
‘It’s time to remove those activist judges who refuse to uphold the law as it was intended.’
The Mountain West, meanwhile, claims that it investigated the allegations against Jones and Fleming but failed to find enough evidence to support the accusations.
A judge denied a last-minute attempt to ban Fleming from the conference championship
Critics branded the probe ‘rushed, sloppy, incomplete, and infected with bias.’
San Jose State has a bye to the semifinals of the conference tournament after seven Spartans games were forfeited by their rivals.
They will meet either Utah State or Boise State – two of the teams who forfeited against them earlier this season.
After she was suspended, meanwhile, Batie-Smoose said: ‘I want to make sure I’m standing strong that only women should be in women’s sports.
‘I just want to protect women’s sports and protect the members of our team’
