A volleyball game with a transgender player gets a major venue change at the last minute amid security concerns

The upcoming NCAA Women’s Volleyball Tournament will move its location more than 200 miles from Reno, Nevada to the Bay Area in California.

San Jose State’s upcoming game against the University of Nevada has been at the center of a national debate over transgender inclusion in women’s sports. And now, a game that was previously going to be played at Nevada’s home facility will be played at San Jose’s Yosh Uchida Hall.

“The Mountain West Conference women’s volleyball game between Nevada and San José State University scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 26, has been moved from Reno, Nevada, to San José, California. The decision to relocate the game was made in the best interest of The decision was made with the approval of the Mountain West Conference,” a joint statement obtained by Fox News Digital said. for both San Jose State and Nevada spokespeople.

There is no guarantee that this game will be played.

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Nevada players have expressed their desire not to play the game, privately to their athletic director and publicly to the media. San Jose State has a player who identifies as transgender, and one player sued the NCAA for not being notified that a teammate was transgender. But the program has not officially banned the game, citing state law.

Four other opposing programs lost their games against the Spartans during the ongoing dispute. Southern Utah, Boise State, Wyoming and Utah State all officially lost their scheduled games against San Jose State.

At the time, security concerns and threats against San Jose State players made going to games a very risky endeavor for the women of the Spartans. San Jose State previously confirmed to Fox News Digital that police protection was assigned to the team, shortly after receiving the first news of an opponent’s foreclosure, when Southern Utah announced it would not play its game against the Spartans in September.

San Jose State player Brooke Slusser has joined a lawsuit led by OutKick host and former swimmer Riley Gaines against the NCAA over its gender identity policies. Slusser joined the lawsuit because she says she had to share the court, the locker room and even a room on a night trip with teammate Blaire Fleming without being told that Fleming was a live male.

Slusser previously told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview that this led to threats against him.

“One of my teammates got a DM, saying that he, and my team, need to stay away from me on the day of the game against Colorado State, because it wouldn’t be a good situation for me to be in.” My team needed to get away,” Slusser told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview. “They needed to get away from me during the game because something was going to happen to me.

“This was the first threat when we could easily see that they wanted to physically harm one of us.”

INSIDE SAN JOSE STATE POLICE’S FIGHT TO PROTECT FEMALE PLAYERS THREATENED BY THE TRANSAS CULTURE WAR

Colorado State University police officers behind the San Jose State University Spartans bench guard Moby Arena during the NCAA Mountain West women’s volleyball game between the Spartans and the Colorado State Rams in Fort Collins, Colo., Thursday, Oct. 03, 2024. (Santiago Mejia/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)

This resulted in a heavy police presence during the Spartans’ game at Colorado State on Oct. 3, as San Jose State confirmed to Fox News Digital that it had to coordinate police protection for its players with other universities during away games.

During a game against the Air Force Academy this past weekend, security at the Cadet East Gym on the Air Force campus in Colorado was on high alert, leading to controversial footage of an alleged interaction between a fan and a security guard.

A fan who attended the game alleged that the Air Force security forces made anyone wearing shirts against transgender inclusion in women’s sports turn off text messages if they wanted to go inside to watch the game. Other witnesses told Fox News Digital they saw similar situations unfold.

“Air Force Athletics is taking the necessary steps to provide a safe environment at all home events for players, coaches, staff and fans,” an Air Force spokesperson told Fox News Digital.

San Jose State was supposed to travel all the way to Reno later this week to play the Wolf Pack, with no guarantee that any Nevada players would be on the court. Nevada told Fox News Digital that its players will not be penalized for refusing to compete in the upcoming game.

But Nevada said it will not forfeit its next game because of the state law, the program previously told Fox News Digital.

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Front left to right, San Jose State player Brooke Slusser celebrates after scoring a point with libero Randilyn Reeves, outside hitter Blaire Fleming and libero Alessia Buffagni during the first set of an NCAA college volleyball game against Colorado State, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024, Fort Collins, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

“The university made the decision not to announce that it will be forfeited and continue to host the game as scheduled based on a number of factors. As a public university, the university is legally prohibited by Section 24 of the Nevada Constitution and other laws and regulations from declaring a forfeit for reasons related to gender identity or expression,” said a Nevada spokesperson.

The Nevada state constitution was updated in 2022 when Nevada voted to adopt the Equal Rights Amendment, which added gender identity to the list of protections. Nevada state Sen. Pat Spearman, a North Las Vegas Democrat who sponsored the bill to be put on the ballot, said the law helped transgender people maintain their identities.

Therefore, forfeiting the game against San Jose State would have violated Nevada state law. The other four programs that have officially forfeited their games because of transgender players are based in states where there are no such laws. In fact, Idaho, where Boise State is based, actually has a state law banning transgender inclusion in women’s sports.

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