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Arizona state Sen. Catherine Miranda, a Democrat, has come under scrutiny on social media after an exchange with former NCAA volleyball player and “save women’s sports” activist Kaylie Ray.
Ray appeared at an Arizona Senate Education committee hearing Wednesday to lobby for a bill that would protect women’s sports from biological males. He spoke from the perspective of a former Utah State captain who led the team in a loss against San Jose State in 2024, protesting a trans athlete at San Jose State University (SJSU).
After Ray shared his testimony, Miranda opened her response by commenting on Ray’s appearance.
The Mountain West Conference logo is seen before the Mountain West Conference basketball tournament championship game between the Utah State Aggies and the San Diego State Aztecs at the Thomas & Mack Center on March 16, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (David Becker/Getty Images)
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“Now I have my sports cap on. It’s about a sports mentality, growing up in sports, being a tomboy. I mean, you look pretty healthy. I’ve played against girls that look like you. You look very fit and strong,” Miranda said.
The state senator then argued against Ray’s position and the bill by stating that she herself had competed against men in sports and would compete against men in sports and ended her lecture with the question, “How competitive do you really think you are?”
At no point in Miranda’s response did she use the word “transgender” or even “male” or “female.” She simply referred to her male opponents as “men.”
“It’s a sports mentality when you’re growing up and the amount of competition you’re going to take on. So it’s not just a silver bullet for a community of athletes, it’s the individual person that determines how competitive you want to be. So you grew up one way. I grew up a different way. I would have taken on a guy in an instant. I’ve played, sometimes I was the only girl in sports. But to have a guy on my team, I would have appreciated it,” Miranda said.
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(left) former NCAA volleyball player Kaylie Ray, (right) Arizona State Senator Catherine Miranda (Courtesy of ICONS, Arizona State Legislature)
“But this is just my opinion… and that’s why this bill is bad because you’re just putting an entire women’s sports community into one category. When women like me, we have a different opinion. So how competitive do you really think you are?”
According to a 2017 publication in Hispanic Engineer & Technology, Miranda previously spoke about his experience playing sports with his brother.
“Sports were my life. There were four girls and one boy in my family. My brother made me his ‘little brother’ so he could have someone to play sports with. I was 100% a tomboy,” and claimed she was the only girl playing in a local little league, the website reported.
Ray responded to Miranda at the hearing that the proposed bill would include three gender categories: male, female and mixed.
“If you want to compete against your man, absolutely, let’s do it in the mixed section,” Ray said.
“Clarity and distinction are really important. Because when men are allowed access to women’s sports and spaces, they are no longer women’s sports and spaces.”
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Ray has given an expanded response to Miranda in a statement to Pak Gazette Digital.
“I wonder if I could look into the eyes of Riley Gaines, Brooke Slusser, Lainey Armistead, Madison Kenyon, Mary Kate Marshall and all the girls who have been forced to compete against a man and tell them that they just aren’t competitive enough.” Ray said.
“Wanting justice doesn’t make someone a coward. Wanting safe, equal competition doesn’t mean a girl doesn’t have what it takes. It means she respects herself and the effort and dedication women have put into creating opportunities in sports… No woman has the right to give away the opportunities and protections that so many others worked so hard to achieve.”
Kaylie Ray with Brooke Slusser as she speaks in front of the United States Supreme Court. (Courtesy of Alliance Defending Freedom)
Pak Gazette Digital has reached out to Miranda’s office for comment.
Ray, a three-time Mountain West Conference champion, was one of five conference teams to lose at least one game to San Jose State in the 2024 season amid a controversy over trans athlete Blaire Fleming. After finishing her graduate degree at Weber State in 2025, she spoke at a rally to “save women’s sports” in front of the U.S. Supreme Court in January.
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He spoke alongside Slusser, who was the SJSU co-captain who filed a lawsuit after sharing a team and apartment with Fleming in 2023 without knowing Fleming was a transgender biological man.
The SJSU controversy returned to the national spotlight in 2026, after the school, as a university, sued the federal government to challenge a Department of Education investigation that found the school violated Title IX in its handling of Fleming.
U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon responded to the lawsuit Wednesday, giving the university 10 days to reach a settlement agreement, or face funding cuts and a referral to the Justice Department.
