Judge rejects request to sideline a San Jose State volleyball player on grounds she's transgender

[SouthBayDem]

Source: AP

A judge on Monday rejected a request to block a San Jose State women’s volleyball team member from playing in a conference tournament on grounds that she is transgender.

Monday’s ruling by U.S. Magistrate Judge S. Kato Crews in Denver will allow the player, who has played all season, to compete in the Mountain West Conference women’s championship opening this week in Las Vegas.

The ruling comes in a lawsuit filed by nine current players against the Mountain West Conference challenging the league’s policies for allowing transgender players to participate. The players argued that letting her compete was a safety risk and unfair.

While some media have reported those and other details, neither San Jose State nor the forfeiting teams have confirmed the school has a trans woman volleyball player. The Associated Press is withholding the player’s name because she has not commented publicly on her gender identity. School officials also have declined an interview request with the player.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/transgender-san-jose-women-volleyball-judge-ruling-a45e6751924f73abd5ba5d786d43f5a3

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Judge Crews is a Biden nominee.

The full decision is here via Court Listener.

[Walleye]

1. JFC! Can't they just leave these people alone. Safety?

Why not leave this up to the conference which governs the rest of their sports? how about teaching a little sportsmanship in school now?

[TomSlick]

2. I struggle with this issue.

I have no question that a trans-woman is a woman. However, I wonder if it is fair for a trans-woman who went through male puberty - with the resulting male muscle mass, etc. - to compete in womens' athletics.

The idea that anyone identifies as trans for the purpose of obtaining an unfair advantage in sports is ludicrous. The number of trans-woman who want to participate in competitive sports is de minimus. Nevertheless, in the few cases a trans-woman wants to compete in woman's sports, I wonder if it is fair to cis-female athletes.

Flame away if you must but I sincerely struggle with this issue.

[xocetaceans]

4. It is an incredibly difficult issue...

Here is a partial argument (or partially formed question) which might be ill-conceived and which, perhaps, you could analyze and point out its flaws if inclined to do so:

If there is no advantage carried over after a transition, should the results in athletic competition be symmetric with respect to the direction of transition? Specifically, should athletes who are trans men be equally able to defeat cis men in athletic competitions, just as it has been seen that trans women are able to defeat cis women in athletic competitions (e.g., Lia Thomas)? Another caveat is that, perhaps, the number of athletes who are trans is just too small to have yet featured a trans man winning in individual competition against cis men.

So, that argument could be fallacious in some manner. The number of competitors could be far too small at this point to show the symmetry.

What other weaknesses does it have? Is the expectation of symmetry itself incorrect?

None of that equates to not accepting trans people as people, but it might be a way to attempt to understand the fairness question in athletics.

[TomSlick]

7. I think you point to the question, to which I do not know the answer.

Does a trans-female athlete who went through male puberty have an advantage over cis-females? The assumption seems to be that they do because of increased muscle mass, height, etc. I don't know of any studies to answer the question, or even if such studies are possible. However, in the meanwhile, trans-female athletes are easy targets for the anti-trans folks in the name of protecting the meager progress of women's athletics.

It's a troubling problem.

[groundloop]

5. Their team is 12-5 in the conference.

That's pretty good, but clearly having one trans player on the team doesn't make them invincible.

I see this as a non issue stirred up by a few people with small minds.

[Jk23]

6. So it is only an issue if they win?

I understand some are happy to die on this hill. But even among supporters this is a tough hill to climb for many.

[TomSlick]

8. From my observation, that is not correct.

Athletic organizations across the country are struggling with the issue. Unfortunately, there seems to be little room for reasoned discussion. The anti-trans side thinks trans athletes are taking advantage and endangering women's athletics, while the pro-trans side thinks that anyone who considers the issue appropriate for legitimate study to be small minded. That leaves little room for discussion.

The anti-trans bigots are in a political ascendancy because both sides refuse to engage in a reasoned discussion.

[SouthBayDem]

11. Six of the wins were by forfeit

by schools that didn’t want to compete against the trans player. Predictably those schools were in red states (Boise State, Wyoming) or had a bunch of MAGA athletes (Nevada-Reno).

In terms of actual games played in league, SJSU is a mediocre 6-6.

[Prairie Gates]

3. ...

[tonekat]

9. No one is bringing up the effects of hormones

The literature says MtF on estrogen therapy will experience loss of muscle mass and strength. Doesn't sound like an advantage.

On the other hand, FtM will gain muscle mass if they are on testosterone therapy. Could be an advantage.

Hormones are pretty powerful. More for the FtM than the MtF.

[Lucky Luciano]

10. The therapy will definitely weaken the ftm trans athletes.

I bet the average person will have the strength of an average woman afterwards.

I would think more studies might be needed for top athletes though. Lia Thomas was only average pre transition - but that is average for a division I swimming athlete - this is still top 0.1% of people probably…maybe even more rare. Do such top athletes experience complete body muscle mass transition? Lia became number one amongst women, but was average before transitioning. That does sound like a big advantage. The only argument in her favor is that after transitioning, she was living her true self with the monkey off her back and often the difference between average athletes and top athletes is mental….but this is a stretch.