Republican Idaho Gov. Brad Little cheered Boise State University women’s volleyball after the team’s decision to forfeit their Saturday game against San José State, who “quietly” added a trans player to their team in April.
Little applauded the team for ensuring “player safety” and continuing “the fight for fairness in women’s sports.”
“I applaud @BoiseState for working within the spirit of my Executive Order, the Defending Women’s Sports Act,” Little posted on Friday, along with the statement from Boise State volleyball. “We need to ensure player safety for all of our female athletes and continue the fight for fairness in women’s sports.”
In April, Breitbart News revealed that “San Jose State University has very quietly added a transgender player to its women’s volleyball team without alerting opposing teams or the new player’s teammates that he was born a male.”
The player, Blaire Fleming, who was born Brayden, is reportedly the only transgender player in the Division I Mountain West Conference. Boise State released a statement Friday announcing their decision to decline the match:
Boise State volleyball will not play its scheduled match at San José State on Saturday, Sept. 28,” the statement said. “Per Mountain West Conference policy, the Conference will record the match as a forfeit and a loss for Boise State.
Little signed the Defending Women’s Sports Act in August, and said at a press conference that “biological males have physical differences that give them an unfair advantage when competing with women and girls in sports.”
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Matt Perdie / Breitbart News
The governor also signed legislation in 2023 that bans boys who identify as girls from using girls’ restrooms in public schools.
Additionally, Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID) commended the team for “taking a stand for women,” writing on Friday, “Kudos to @BoiseState for taking a stand for women in sports! Idaho’s hardworking, talented female athletes deserve a fair playing field where they can compete and WIN.”
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Since Fleming joined the team, there have been complaints from concerned parents about the safety of their daughters while competing in volleyball at Boise State, and a former teammate filed a lawsuit calling for the NCAA to take action against male players such as Fleming, citing his “80 mph” spikes that put “women’s health and safety in danger.” Breitbart News reported:
Fleming’s former teammate, Brooke Slusser, has joined women’s sports advocate and former Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines in suing the NCAA for permitting male players to compete in women’s sports.
“Brooke estimates that Fleming’s spikes were traveling upward of 80 mph, which was faster than she had ever seen a woman hit a volleyball,” Slusser’s complaint said, via the Cowboy State Daily. “The girls were doing everything they could to dodge Fleming’s spikes but still could not fully protect themselves.”
“One thing that’s important in this case is really the physical safety issues in volleyball,” Slusser’s attorney, Bill Bock, told OutKick. “And that’s what they’re facing in practice every day. So, it’s just a crazy, misguided policy that steals athletic dreams from women and gives them to men, and, at the same time, puts women’s health and safety in danger.”
The Boise State Broncos’ next game will be October 3 against Air Force.
