“Justice, and only justice, you shall follow, that you may live and inherit the land that the Lord your God is giving you.” – Deuteronomy 16:20
Over the last few months, there has been a mounting controversy surrounding an issue with the women’s volleyball team at San Jose State University. Various teams one by one started forfeiting their matches with San Jose State. Some of these teams included Boise State, Southern Utah, Wyoming, and Utah State.
This occurred because one of the players on San Jose State’s team, Blaire Flemming, who is a biological male who identifies as a transgender female, was putting other teams at a safety risk. One of Flemming’s teammates joined a lawsuit being led by Riley Gaines that requests the NCAA change its detrimental transgender policies and protect female sports. In the lawsuit, the teammate stated that Fleming can spike the ball at speeds upward of 80 mph and that during practice she and her teammates fear for their safety.
Earlier this month, Melissa Batie-Smoose, who is an assistant coach for the women’s volleyball team at SJSU, took a stand for the female athletes on the team and filed a Title IX complaint on behalf of her female players. The administration at SJSU, unfortunately, suspended Batie-Smoose for stepping up to defend her players from this obviously unfair infringement of allowing a biological man on the team.
Now, a dozen female athletes in the Mountain West Conference, a conference affiliated with the NCAA, are fighting for fairness by filing a lawsuit against the Mountain West Conference and its commissioner, along with officials at SJSU. The lawsuit alleges that because there is a biological male in the female players’ presence there has been a clear violation of Title IX and their First Amendment rights.
Due to the lack of courage from the administration at SJSU, the Mountain West Conference, and the NCAA, these female athletes have to fight for the protection and fairness of their sports in the courts. The NCAA should be ashamed that they have yet to enact policies that protect a fair and level playing field for female athletes.
LET US PRAY…
Father, may the courts rule rightly in this lawsuit and act to protect women’s sports and create a fair and level playing field for them. Lord, we praise You for the courage and strength of these female athletes to speak up and stand for what is right. Father, we pray that the NCAA will step up and take action just as the NAIA did to protect women’s sports. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
