A federal judge in Colorado ruled Monday that an alleged transgender woman on the San Jose State volleyball team can continue to compete in the postseason following a national debate around SJSU’s volleyball team and a lawsuit against the Mountain West Conference.
Judge Shane Kato Crews of the United States District Court of Colorado responded to the lawsuit filed against the Mountain West and its commissioner, Gloria Nevarez, Nov. 13. The suit implicated two administrators at SJSU, the university’s volleyball coach and the California State University system Board of Trustees.
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In his ruling, Crews stated that the plaintiff’s position was weakened by not taking action sooner, especially because the Mountain West’s transgender participation policy has been in place since 2022.
“Considering the nature of this relief, the Court finds it alters the status quo because SJSU’s alleged trans teammate has been on its roster since 2022 and throughout the 2024 season and because the (transgender participation policy) has been in effect (whether or not posted publicly) since August 2022,” the ruling states. “It was not until the spring of 2024, at the earliest, that questions arose from plaintiffs regarding her gender identity.”
Following four Mountain West schools and one nonconference school forfeiting games against San Jose State, the ruling stated the decision to forfeit games was at the jurisdiction of each individual school.
The ruling also upheld a 2020 Supreme Court case, which decided that discrimination in the workplace under the Civil Rights Act of 1964 extends to sexual orientation and gender identity.
Following the ruling, the case was appealed Tuesday, but a federal appeals court rejected their appeal.
Colorado State was implicated in the initial lawsuit, alleging that three San Jose State players left the team hotel — breaking team rules — and met up with an unnamed Colorado State player to discuss throwing the game in the Rams’ favor. The lawsuit also alleged that one San Jose State player created opportunities for Colorado State players to purposefully hit the ball at Brooke Slusser, the SJSU player who filed the initial lawsuit.
Coaching staff for both San Jose State and Colorado State reviewed film of the Oct. 3 game and did not find any evidence of the allegations made in the lawsuit. The Mountain West also completed an investigation prior to the litigation being filed and found insufficient evidence to support the allegations.
Reach Allie Seibel at sports@collegian.com or on Twitter @CSUCollegian.
