Female Volleyball Players Sue Athletic Conference and San Jose State For Violating Their Title IX and First Amendment Rights Over a Man on the Team

Outkick reported that a group of female athletes filed a lawsuit against the Mountain West Conference, the commissioner, and San Jose State University (SJSU) for violating their right to equal opportunity under Title IX and their First Amendment right to free speech relating to a man on the women’s volleyball team.

Not only do these institutions put women at risk, they want women to shut up about it!

I was removed from my SJSU volleyball team for standing up for my players’ rights, but I’ve gained a new team of courageous women fighting the mistreatment facing all players in the Mountain West Conference ⬇️https://t.co/5bew9L5ePl

— Melissa Batie-Smoose (@BatieSmoose) November 14, 2024

The Mountain West Conference will host a volleyball tournament in Las Vegas on November 27. These women are asking the court for an emergency injunction to disqualify SJSU from participating in the tournament. From Outkick:

According to the filing, the Mountain West adopted a new “Transgender Participation Policy” on the same day in September that Boise State forfeited its match against San Jose State, becoming the first conference team to do so.
…
The filing further contends this new “Transgender Participation Policy” (TPP) was adopted [by the Mountain West Conference] hastily with the sole intention of stopping other schools from exercising their First Amendment rights, and suggests it was instituted outside the normal course of Mountain West rules and procedures.

Four teams have forfeited six games to avoid risking their safety playing against the man and say those games should not be counted as losses.

“The NCAA, Mountain West Conference, and college athletic directors around the country are failing women,” said Bill Bock, the lead attorney for the group and the Independent Council On Women’s Sports. “Because the administrators don’t have the courage to do their jobs, we have to ask the federal courts to do their jobs for them.”

Photo credits: By Dicklyon – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, link

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