Transgender volleyball player Blaire Fleming was among those honored Tuesday at the Mountain West postseason awards.
Fleming, a biological male, has been in the eye of a storm in recent months, with multiple opponents refusing to play against San Jose State due to safety concerns.
The redshirt senior is also at the center of a lawsuit involving her own teammates, who have sued their head coach, the college and the Mountain West, demanding that Fleming be ineligible for the conference tournament.
San Jose State coach Melissa Batie-Smoose accused the school of trying to “silence” her after she was suspended following complaints about Fleming.
The NCAA is also facing a class-action lawsuit from more than a dozen female athletes, who accuse the organization of knowingly violating a law banning discrimination on the basis of sex.
On Tuesday, however, Fleming was named an honorable mention to the All-Mountain West Team, along with teammate Brooke Slusser, who is involved in the lawsuits over Fleming’s place on the roster.
Transgender volleyball player Blaire Fleming was honored at the Mountain West awards
Several schools have refused to play women’s volleyball against San Jose State’s trans player
Brooke Slusser has spoken publicly about how Fleming’s participation has affected the team
Colorado State’s Malaya Jones was named Mountain West Player of the Year.
That’s despite the fact that she was accused of conspiring with Fleming to throw a game — and “explode” Stusser — during a game last month.
The awards came after a judge rejected a last-minute attempt to ban Fleming from the conference championship tournament and any future NCAA Tournament games.
Judge Kato Crews ruled that the lawsuit “was not reasonable” and that it would “risk confusion, disrupt months of planning and, at a minimum, disadvantage (San Jose State) and other teams participating in the tournament.”
The decision sparked outrage from many people on social media, including former college swimmer Riley Gaines.
Gaines, an outspoken advocate against transgender women in women’s sports, said: “A federal judge just ruled in favor of a male athlete who has been injuring defenseless women in volleyball for years.
“It is time to remove those activist judges who refuse to enforce the law as it is intended.”
The Mountain West, meanwhile, claims it investigated the allegations against Jones and Fleming but failed to find sufficient evidence to support the allegations.
A judge denied a last-minute attempt to ban Fleming from the conference championship
Critics called the investigation “rushed, sloppy, incomplete and tainted with bias.”
San Jose State has bowed out of the conference tournament semifinals after seven Spartan games were forfeited by their rivals.
They will face either Utah State or Boise State – two of the teams that lost to them earlier this season.
After being suspended, Batie-Smoose said: “I want to make sure I stand strong and that only women are allowed to play in women’s sports.
“I just want to protect women’s sports and protect the members of our team.”