Women’s student team withdrew from tournament in the United States due to a transgender member of the opponent

The Boise State University women’s volleyball team announced it has decided to withdraw from its Mountain West Conference semifinal match against San Jose State, which has a transgender player on its roster.

— The decision not to continue playing in the tournament was not easy. Our team overcame a string of losses to earn a spot in the tournament and battled to defeat Utah State University in the first round on Wednesday. Our female athletes should not have missed this opportunity in anticipation of a smarter and better system that would serve all athletes,” the Boise State University team said in a statement.

The match was supposed to take place on Friday. “San Jose” directly reached the final. His opponent will be the winner of the match between Colorado and San Diego. The Boise State University team twice boycotted regular-season games against San Jose because of the presence of a transgender person on the team. Teams from universities in Nevada, Wyoming, Utah and Southern Utah also boycotted matches against San Jose.

Players from different universities have filed a lawsuit against the conference and San Jose State University officials, demanding that a transgender athlete be barred from participating in the women’s tournament and naming the athlete. However, on Monday, a magistrate court in Denver rejected the lawsuit, and the next day a federal appeals court upheld the decision. It is noted that the transgender man from San Jose did not reveal his identity, like his San Jose University, relying on federal privacy laws.

It was previously reported that the transgender player is Blair Fleming, who has previously been seen throwing balls at opponents’ faces during matches.