University of Wyoming women’s volleyball player Macey Boggs testified at a state Senate hearing about her team’s two-match loss to San Jose State in 2024 during a controversy involving transgender player Blaire Fleming .
Boggs, one of 11 former or current Mountain West volleyball players involved in a lawsuit against SJSU and the conference, spoke in support of a bill that would require participation in athletic competition to be limited to the athlete’s biological sex at birth in the state.
But for Boggs, no legislation will give her another chance to compete in the volleyball postseason. Wyoming’s two losses to SJSU on Oct. 5 and Nov. 14 cost the team a chance to reach the Mountain West Tournament, and its run is now over.
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“My team was punished with two losses for refusing to play a male athlete on an opposing team, an injustice that ultimately prevented us from competing in the Mountain West Tournament.” Boggs said. “I was taken away from the opportunity to play my final college games because we were faced with a situation that no woman should face: competing against a team that includes a male athlete on a women’s scholarship or losing the remainder of our season. No woman should have to face such a decision.
“We deserve to compete against athletes whose biology matches ours, not against a male standard.”
Sacrificing the opportunity to compete for a championship to ensure the safety of himself and his teammates left a lasting impression on Boggs that he won’t soon forget.
“My team was told that we did not deserve security on the court, that we were not important enough for a fair competition and that women should remain silent for the benefit of men,” she said. “This issue is about more than wins and losses. It’s about whether we respect women and girls.”
Wyoming Republican state Sen. Wendy Schuler, a former college athlete, is the bill’s sponsor and chair of the Senate Education Committee. Boggs urged state lawmakers to pass the bill to protect future female athletes from similar situations. The bill passed in a 4-1 vote.
There are already 25 states that have laws to prevent transgender athletes from competing in women’s and girls’ sports. A bill to prevent it at the national level has already been approved in the House of Representatives.
Boggs hopes his experience can help lawmakers ensure this doesn’t happen anywhere else.
“While it may be too late to end my career on the terms my team got, it’s not too late for the young women coming up behind us,” she said. “It is fundamentally unfair, unsafe and a violation of women’s rights to force them to compete with or against biological men.”
Boggs expressed his belief that sex is determined by birth and “not by feelings.”
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The other plaintiffs in the lawsuit are SJSU co-captain Brooke Slusser, Alyssa Sugai, Elle Patterson, Nicanora Clarke, Kaylie Ray, Sia Li’ili’i, Sierra Grizzle, Jordan Sandy, Katelyn Van Kirk and Kiersten Van Kirk. Former SJSU assistant volleyball coach Melissa Batie-Smoose, who was suspended by San Jose State after filing a Title IX complaint alleging that the university gave favorable treatment to the trans player, is also a plaintiff.
Former NCAA swimmer and prominent conservative influencer Riley Gaines, who regularly organizes with other female athletes affected by transgender inclusion and is leading a lawsuit against the NCAA over the issue, revealed her account of what the players went through, based on conversations with them. during a hearing in Idaho on January 9.
“They were emotionally blackmailed into believing they were the problem,” Gaines said of the players, adding that Boise State was the only university that showed administrative support for players who wanted to resign.
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“The overwhelming majority of them did not want this to happen to them. No one asked for it. This is not a situation they want to be in,” Gaines added. “These girls were terrified. They were afraid to stand up straight. They were terrified of standing up for themselves. They were terrified of the things that would potentially happen if they just said ‘men and women are different.'”
Marshi Smith, co-founder of a legal advocacy group, the Independent Women’s Sports Council, testified that the athletes who joined the lawsuit felt threatened by retaliation from their university if they spoke out against transgender inclusion.
“What will they do to us for talking?” Players asked often, according to Smith.
Smith elaborated on these players’ questions in a follow-up statement to Pak Gazette Digital.
San Jose State Spartans players before a game against the Air Force Falcons on Falcon Court in East Gym on Oct. 19, 2024, in Colorado Springs, Colorado. (Andrew Wevers/Getty Images)
“They are often terrified of losing scholarships or being kicked off their teams. At San Jose State, administrators exploited these fears by telling them to stay quiet because it is Blaire Fleming’s story to tell, not their own,” Smith said .
Louisiana Tech volleyball head coach Amber McCray confirmed to Pak Gazette Digital that her team did not know about the situation regarding Fleming’s natural birth sex, and did not find out until the day after the match through rumors. parental.
LA Tech athletic director Ryan Ivey suggested in emails obtained by Pak Gazette Digital that if officials had known Fleming’s natural birth sex, the team “would have pursued” a different outcome.
Slusser, who alleges he had to share bedrooms and locker rooms with Fleming in the lawsuit, told Pak Gazette Digital that the experience has been “traumatic.”
“This season has been so traumatizing that I don’t even have a proudest moment,” Slusser said.
SJSU has also acknowledged a recent exodus of volleyball players entering the transfer portal. Nearly all of the remaining players still eligible are looking to leave the program.
“Student-athletes have the ability to make decisions about their college athletic careers, and we have the utmost respect for that,” a statement read.
