The state of Idaho applauds Boise State’s decision to skip a women’s volleyball game with a team that has a running back.
Idaho Governor Brad Little praised Boise State for losing its match against San Jose State University on Saturday amid controversy surrounding a member of the women’s volleyball team who is transgender.
Boise State Athletics confirmed the decision in a statement released Saturday. The university did not provide an explanation for the seizure.
Idaho Gov. Brad Little recently signed an executive order directing the State Board of Education to ensure fairness protections in women’s sports. (Darin Oswald/Idaho Statesman/Tribune Service via Getty Images)
“Boise State volleyball will not play its scheduled game at San José State on Saturday, September 28,” the statement read. “With Mountain West Conference As a matter of policy, the conference will record the game as a forfeit and a Boise State loss. The Broncos will next compete on Oct. 3 with the Air Force.”
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The Republican governor, who recently signed an executive order directing the State Board of Education to ensure the safety of women’s sports, released a statement praising the decision.
“I applaud @BoiseState for acting in the spirit of my Executive Order, the Defending Women’s Sports Act,” her caption on X read. “We must ensure player safety for all our female athletes and continue to fight for fairness in women’s sports.”
Boise State is the second school to pull out of playing SJSU amid controversy surrounding a member of the women’s volleyball team.
Blaire Fleming, a redshirt senior at San Jose State University, plays outside and right hitter on the women’s volleyball team. Fleming, a transgender athlete, has played three seasons at SJSU after previously playing Coastal Carolina.
BOISE STATE RESTS UPCOMING WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL WITH SJSU AMID CONTROVERSY WITH TRANS PLAYER
Earlier this week, one of Fleming’s teammates joined several other female athletes in suing the NCAA for violating Title IX.
A volleyball net on display during the Division III Women’s Volleyball Championship held at the US Cellular Center on November 23, 2019, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. (Photos by Jack Dempsey/NCAA via Getty Images)
According to the criminal complaint, Brooke Slusser said she did not know Fleming was transgender even though they shared rooms on the group tour. Slusser also expressed concern for the safety of opponents playing with Fleming.
“Brooke estimated that Fleming’s spikes were traveling upwards of 80 mph, which was the fastest he had ever seen a woman hit a volleyball,” Slusser’s complaint said, per the Cowboy State Daily. “The girls did their best to avoid Fleming’s spikes but they couldn’t fully defend themselves.”
“One important thing in this case is physical safety issues in volleyball,” Slusser’s attorney, Bill Bock, told OutKick. “And that’s what they face in practice every day. So, it’s just a crazy, wrong policy that steals women’s racing dreams and gives them to men, and, at the same time, puts women’s health and safety at risk.”
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NCAA Volleyball featured in the Division I Men’s Volleyball Championship held at the Walter Pyramid on May 4, 2019 in Long Beach, California. (Photos by John W. McDonough/NCAA via Getty Images)
Payton McNabb, a former high school volleyball player from North Carolina, has been among the most outspoken transgender athletes in the sport.
In September 2022, McNabb was injured in a high school volleyball game when a transgender athlete on the opposing team swung a volleyball and hit her in the face, causing her to fall backwards and suffer a concussion and neck injury.
He he continues to suffer from the long-term physical and mental damage caused by this incident.
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