UNR Moves Forward With Volleyball Match Despite Players’ Forfeit Over SJSU Transgender Athlete

Earlier today, University of Nevada Reno (UNR) women’s volleyball team announced they would forfeit their upcoming Oct. 26 match against San Jose State University (SJSU) due to their transgender player Blaire Fleming. The team specifically cited “fairness and safety concerns” as their reasons for forfeit.

Lt. Governor Stavros Anthony praised the team for their “courageous decision.” Earlier this year, Governor Joe Lombardo joined eight other governors urging the NCAA to “rewrite your Transgender Student Athlete Policy to protect, preserve, and encourage fairness in women’s athletics.”

The University of Nevada women’s volleyball team has my full support and admiration for their courageous decision. https://t.co/CxmwS2dE59

— Stavros Anthony (@StavrosAnthony) October 14, 2024

However, this afternoon UNR issued a statement to Outkick, who had exclusively reported on the forfeit Monday morning, reversing the team’s vote.

Major breaking news into @OutKick:

Despite the volleyball team voting to forfeit against SJSU and Blaire Fleming, the school says that it "intends to move forward with the match as scheduled" and "the players’ decision does not represent the position of the University." pic.twitter.com/OztXx110ON

— Dan Zaksheske (@RealDanZak) October 14, 2024

“The University of Nevada volleyball team remains focused on its upcoming matches with UNLV and San Diego State and intends to play its remaining Mountain West schedule, including the match with San José State University on October 26.

The University will continue to abide by the NCAA, Mountain West Conference and USA Volleyball rules and regulations as well as the laws and Constitution of the State of Nevada.

The University intends to move forward with the match as scheduled, and the players may choose not to participate in the match on the day of the contest. No players will be subject to any team disciplinary action for their decision not to participate in the match,” the statement read.

UNR President Brian Sandoval waded into the “What is a woman” controversy earlier this year sending an internal memo to faculty, students and staff in response to a comment made by Regent Patrick Boylan in relation to trans-women athletes.

During a Nevada System of Higher Education Board of Regents meeting on March 1, Regent Boylan asked if “men were masquerading as women” in collegiate sports at UNLV. His comments provoked a national campaign demanding his resignation. Boylan has refused to resign and contends that he said nothing wrong.

Sandoval, the former Republican Governor of Nevada, referred to Boylan’s comments as “extremely insensitive, hurtful and abhorrent,” adding “Trans and gender-diverse individuals have every right to feel welcome, safe, and seen on our college campuses.”

Sandoval then doubled down by noting that Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Access initiatives must continue. “More education is in order,” he demanded.

Sixteen female college athletes are suing the NCAA for allowing trans competitors in sports. The lawsuit centers around Lia Thomas, a trans athlete who won the 2022 NCAA Swimming Championships. It asks the governing body to change its rules to render biological males ineligible to compete against female athletes, and that it revoke all awards handed to trans athletes in women’s competitions and give them to their female contenders.

Riley Gaines is one of the 16 women suing the NCAA and announced on X, “I’m suing the NCAA along with 15 other collegiate athletes who have lost out on titles, records, & roster spots to men posing as women. The NCAA continues to explicitly violate the federal civil rights law of Title IX.”

In 2019, the Nevada legislature became the first female-majority state legislature in the nation with women holding 52 percent of the seats. That year, Legislator Pat Spearman joined with the Majority Leader Senator Nicole Cannizzaro to sponsor the legislation to put the Nevada ERA (Equal Rights Amendment) on the ballot. Two years later, in 2021, women won a whopping 60 percent of seats in the legislature and passed the second reading of the ERA measure.

The ERA ballot initiative (Question 1) then narrowly passed in 2022 and fundamentally changed the Nevada constitution, expanding the number of protected classes from one to ten (in bold):

“Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by 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.”

In an op-ed, we rightly predicted that the ERA ERAsed women. The constitutional amendment cannot be changed or legislatively challenged for five years from its passage. The progressive champions who once marched for women’s rights have now succeeded in eliminating women’s rights to fairness and safety. UNR has now eliminated their voice.