On Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, Boise State’s women’s volleyball team forfeited a match against San Jose State University amidst speculation that San Jose State player Blaire Fleming is transgender.
Governor Brad Little quickly applauded the university’s decision and said it exemplified the effects of Little’s Executive Order, The Defending Women’s Sports Act.
“I applaud @BoiseState for working within the spirit of my Executive Order, The Defending Women’s Sports Act. We need to ensure player safety for all of our female athletes and continue the fight for fairness in women’s sports,” Gov. Little shared in a post on X.
The Defending Women’s Sports Act, which was signed on Aug. 28, 2024, combats the Biden-Harris administration’s changes to Title IX regulations, which went into effect on Aug. 1, 2024. The new Title IX regulations focus on protecting LGBTQ+ students from sex discrimination in federally funded education.
Gov. Little’s new executive order instructs the Idaho State Board of Education to work with the Idaho State Board of Education to ensure public schools are properly following all of Idaho’s laws related to fairness in women’s sports and to ensure that every female student in Idaho is provided equal opportunity in sports and school to the fullest extent as guaranteed to them under the original Title IX rules and Idaho law.
In March 2020, Gov. Little signed The Fairness in Women’s Sports Act, making Idaho the first state to prohibit transgender athletes from competing in womens’ athletics.
Responses from educational institutions
“The State Board of Education and the Idaho Department of Education look forward to working on any additional steps determined to be needed to help our districts understand the legal lay of the land so they can make sure they’re adhering to the governor’s order and the applicable laws,” Idaho State Board of Education said in a statement to The Arbiter.
The Arbiter requested a comment from Marlene Tromp, head volleyball coach Shawn Garus and senior associate athletic director Christina Van Tol. Chris Kutz. Associate Athletic Director for Boise State spoke on behalf of Tromp, Garus, Van Tol and Athletic Director Jeremiah Dickey, saying they “will refer back to [their] original statement” and “Boise State volleyball will not play its scheduled match at San José State on Saturday, Sept. 28. Per Mountain West Conference policy, the Conference will record the match as a forfeit and a loss for Boise State. The Broncos will next compete on Oct. 3 against Air Force.”
The Arbiter does not have an official statement detailing why the match against San Jose State was forfeited.
San Jose State media relations denied The Arbiter’s request to interview Fleming.
On Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, Assistant Coach for Boise State’s women’s volleyball team Haley Peterson and team member Bridey O’Connor spoke at an ASBSU meeting to encourage attendance at future games and to hand out Boise State volleyball t-shirts.
Responses from the trans community
Simon Schabot, Boise State alumni and member of the trans community shared that they believe that Boise State’s decision sends a negative message to prospective trans students.
“It sends a message to people who would potentially come here that they aren’t welcome, necessarily,” Schabot said. “I feel like, as a trans person, you expect to come across people who don’t support you — but going to class with a member from that volleyball team … it would make me feel very unwelcome.”
Schabot is hopeful that Boise State’s decision will not set a precedent for the treatment of trans athletes.
“I hope that it wouldn’t lead to a standard … but it also just feels unsportsmanlike,” Schabot said.
“Having that be applauded by government officials — I feel like it very much could set that [standard] and I hope it doesn’t become a trend because I feel like that’s just not kind in general, it’s just not.”
“It’s not a decision, it’s not something that you choose to do. If anything, these decisions make it feel like, in general, you just don’t want trans people around,” Schabot said. “It just feels very unwelcoming, and not even in a sense of you don’t want to be my friend, but in a sense of, we don’t want you around period. I don’t want to stand next to you in the grocery store line. I don’t want to show up to the game that you’re at.”
While Boise State’s decision to forfeit the game against San Jose State has been disheartening for Schabot, they hope that prospective students know that is just one aspect of the university.
“To prospective trans students, this is one aspect of Boise State University,” Schabot said. “There are actually hundreds of aspects of Boise State University, and I would point that out. It’s a bad look, but I have found accepting programs within Boise State, that’s just how it is.”
Preston Pace, Director of Media Production for Trans Joy Boise, shared in an email to The Arbiter why they believe Boise State’s decision could be dangerous for the trans community.
“When we deny trans athletes the chance to compete, we’re not just excluding them from sports — we’re sending a broader message that trans people aren’t welcome in public spaces,” Pace said. “It’s sending the chilling message that it is not only allowed to openly discriminate against us, but oftentimes celebrated.”
Pace shared what they wish administrators and coaches would understand about the potential effects on trans individuals.
“I wish they would understand the weight of their decisions. People are seeing this in the news and forming their own opinions on trans athletes without doing any research,” Pace said. “The coaches know that the NCAA has guidelines and requirements for trans athletes to keep things fair; the average person does not. They are putting trans athletes in a bad light by implying that they’re playing the system, which is simply not the case.”
According to the NCAA’s Transgender Student-Athlete Participation Policy, athletes who are transgender must meet the sport standard for documented testosterone levels at three different times: before any regular season competition, before the first competition in an NCAA championship event and before any competition that’s during the non-championship period.
Lawsuit against NCAA
In 2022, The NCAA Board of Governors updated their transgender student-athlete policy, allowing transgender athletes to compete in collegiate athletics based on the gender they identify with as opposed to the gender assigned to them at birth.
In March 2024, women’s swimmer Riley Gaines and over a dozen other college women athletes filed a lawsuit against the NCAA for “violating” their Title IX rights by allowing transgender women to compete in women’s athletics. In September 2024, San Jose State’s women’s volleyball player and roommate of Fleming’s, Brooke Slusser, joined in on the lawsuit.
On Oct. 3, 2024, Utah State women’s volleyball forfeited their matchup against San Jose State, joining Southern Utah University, Boise State University and University of Wyoming as the fourth program to forfeit against San Jose State in less than a month.
