Nevada volleyball players face pressure over ‘legal issues’ amid feud with school, forced to play against SJSU transgender players

In October, players on the University of Nevada, Reno women’s volleyball team were involved in a highly publicized dispute with the university and athletic department over whether to play a game against San Jose State University.

At the time, San Jose State fielded a transgender athlete.

Nevada players contacted university administrators privately, expressing their desire to forfeit the game and join four other programs that declined to play against SJSU. But Nevada did not comply with the request and issued a statement insisting that it would participate in the game. Nevada also insists its players will be allowed to skip games without being disciplined.

The team was ultimately eliminated the day before the game was scheduled to be played due to not having enough players. However, the university said it had discussed with players potential “legal issues” that could arise if games cannot be played.

A statement provided exclusively to Nevada volleyball read: “University administrators met with the Nevada volleyball team to discuss possible scenarios that would occur if they chose not to compete. One of the scenarios discussed revolved around possible violations of the Nevada Constitution. legal issues.

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The state constitution was revised in 2022, when Democratic lawmakers voted to pass the Equal Rights Amendment, which added gender identity to the list of diversity classifications protected by state law.

“University of Nevada law and regulations prohibit withholding grades for reasons related to gender identity or expression. As a state university, forfeiture on grounds involving gender identity or expression may constitute discrimination per se and violate the Nevada Constitution,” Nevada’s statement reads.

Nevada’s statement comes in response to allegations against Marshi Smith, co-founder of the Independent Council for Women in Sport (ICONS).

Smith met and spoke with multiple Nevada players during the dispute and leads a legal advocacy group that has filed a lawsuit against San Jose State and the Mountain West Conference for their handling of situations involving transgender athletes .

“At UNR, school administrators warned athletes that they could face legal action if they refused to compete against SJSU’s team, which included a male starter,” Smith told Fox News Digital.

The feud between the players escalated into a national controversy and even attracted mainstream political attention weeks before the November election.

Nevada players, including team captain Thea Lilly, have repeatedly spoken out against the university’s refusal to forfeit the game. Trump’s presumptive nominee for director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, and former Nevada Senate candidate Sam Brown even visited the team for photos and interviews.

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The scale of the controversy intensified as the October 26 match date approached. On October 22, Nevada and San Jose State announced that the game would be moved from its campus in Reno, Nevada to San Jose State’s campus in the Bay Area, California, claiming that the change of location was “consistent with both programs and schools’ best interests”. -Presence of student-athletes, coaches, athletic staff and spectators. “

But just one day before the game, Nevada announced that it would abandon the game on the grounds that not enough players were willing to participate. Nevada lost the game and then finished the season with a 1-7 record.

Nevada players previously spoke about the pressure they faced from the university heading into the game during a press conference at the university scheduled for the day of the Oct. 26 game.

Lily broke down in tears from the moment she took the podium, recounting how she told school officials she didn’t want to compete against a transgender contestant.

“We felt unsafe and fired,” Lily said, sobbing. “We met with school officials and gave them our team’s new statement, but they didn’t even hear it. We were told we weren’t educated enough and we didn’t understand the science. We were told to reconsider our plans.” Location.

Nevada sophomore Marcin Navarro claims her teammates were told to “keep quiet” about the controversy during a press conference.

“Standing up for women shouldn’t be this hard. However, we are now going to take this opportunity to stand up as a team because some of us have been told to keep quiet,” Navarro said.

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Nevada athletic director Stephanie Lemper previously issued a statement to Fox News Digital in response to the allegations made during the press conference.

“I have not been told, nor am I aware of any member of the athletics management team, telling members of our women’s volleyball team that they are ‘not educated enough,’ that they ‘do not understand the science,’ and that they should reconsider their choices. Or they should just do that.” ‘Hold Silent’ for the Oct. 26 game against San Jose State.

Lemper said she apologized to players even after they voted to abstain because of how they learned the school planned to continue playing.

“On October 14th and October 22nd, I spoke with the team for less than five minutes each, and these gatherings were operational in nature. In all three meetings, I expressed concern that the October 3rd release was not shared. The statement expresses its sincere apology.

Article 1, Section 24 of the Nevada Constitution states: “There shall be no discrimination in this State or any of its political subdivisions on account of race, color, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, ancestry, or national origin.”

But Lilly is now one of 11 former or current Mountain West volleyball players who have filed a lawsuit over the way San Jose State and the Mountain West have handled the issue of transgender athletes.

San Jose State co-captain Brooke Slusser led the lawsuit and filed another against the NCAA over claims she had to share a team, bedroom and locker room with transgender athletes , while actively concealing the player’s gender at birth.

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Other players on the plaintiffs’ list include Alyssa Sugai, Elle Patterson, Nicanora Clarke, Kaylie Ray, Macey Boggs, Sierra Grizzle, Jordan Sandy, Katelyn Van Kirk and Kiersten Van Kirk. Former SJSU assistant volleyball coach Melissa Batie-Smoose, also a plaintiff, was suspended from San Jose State after filing a Title IX complaint alleging the state gave preferential treatment to transgender players.

Smith told Fox News Digital that many players expressed concerns about retaliation from their schools when deciding whether to join the lawsuit.

“The most common first question we hear from NCAA female athletes seeking support is: ‘What can my school or the NCAA do to retaliate against me if I speak out against allowing men to compete in women’s sports?’ They are often afraid Lose your scholarship or get kicked off the team,” Smith told Fox News Digital.

“The first assurance we provide is that these athletes have their constitutional right to free speech. They can speak out or abstain from protesting discrimination, Title IX violations, or increased safety risks while competing against male athletes without fear of being To retaliate against the lies their school may tell them.

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