Utah State women’s volleyball star Kaylie Ray applauded her school Monday as it sought to join a First Amendment lawsuit against the Mountain West Conference over San Jose State transgender volleyball player Blaire Fleming.
The school filed a petition to join the lawsuit as a plaintiff against the conference, OutKick reported. The lawsuit alleged that the conference adopted a new transgender participation policy to discipline teams forfeiting games against San Jose State. The suit also alleged Title IX violations in forcing schools to compete against a team with a transgender player.
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“Until today, college women athletes have stood alone against the combined discrimination of the NCAA and every college athletic conference in the country that follows the NCAA’s misguided policies that allow men to compete against women in college sports,” Ray said in a statement through the Independent Council on Women’s Sport.
“Hopefully, Utah State’s action will motivate a flood of schools and college athletic conferences to renounce the NCAA’s anti-women policies.”
The initial lawsuit was filed last week. San Jose State had no comment.
The Mountain West Conference told OutKick: “The Mountain West Conference prioritizes the best interests of our student-athletes and takes great care to adhere to NCAA and MW policies. While we are unable to comment on the pending litigation of this particular situation, we take seriously all concerns of student-athlete welfare and fairness.”
Ray, who earned weekly honors from the Mountain West earlier Monday, alleged in the lawsuit she was scolded for posting a photo of herself on social media wearing a T-shirt that read “BOYcott” on it in protest of playing against San Jose State.
She said in the lawsuit “many around us were only concerned about the discomfort our stand was causing them and how it made them appear to others. They did not appear to care about standing up for us; they simply acted inconvenienced and put off by our decision to speak up for women.”
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