Letter to the Editor: Aggie sports fans speak out against volleyball forfeiture

On Oct. 23, Utah State University will forfeit its volleyball match against San Jose State University. While no explicit reason was included in its public statement, USU was among a group of schools that forfeited games with this particular team, presumably because of a player who had been identified by outsiders as transgender and who is at the center of a lawsuit.  USU played this same team with this player on the roster four times in 2022 and 2023. The targeting of San Jose State is disruptive to all the players on all teams in the Mountain West.

As Aggie sports fans, we stand in solidarity with all women athletes. There is no evidence that trans women athletes have an advantage over cisgender women athletes and, in fact, the range of athletic ability among trans women parallels the range found in cis women. In other words, trans women earn their spots on their teams the same way cis women do. The NCAA has long regulated any kind of performance-enhancing drugs, including for male athletes, and the NCAA already requires trans athletes to complete multiple rounds of scrutiny—including lab tests evaluating the amount of testosterone in an athlete’s body—before they are approved to play. Current NCAA rules allow each sport to determine eligibility, given the different physical demands and skill sets in each activity.

As sports fans, we believe that all athletes deserve to play, and we worry about the harm to our students. Nationally, trans kids are more likely to face hostile schooling environments and are less likely to attend school, graduate, and be successful. The trends in Utah are even more frightening; last month, a national study established a causal link between anti-trans laws and suicide attempts among trans youth. One way to counteract this harm is to expand opportunities for young trans athletes to participate in sports. Participation in sports builds confidence and character and reduces anxiety, depression and suicide.

Efforts to ban trans women from playing sports are rooted in false beliefs that these athletes are not real women—the same beliefs that fuel an epidemic of violence against trans women, particularly trans women of color. We know well the history of Title IX and the long and hard fight women athletes have fought – and continue to fight – to gain equity in sports. Team forfeitures based on the identity of players on an opposing team have a history of leading to exclusion and discrimination, as was the case in the 1950s and 1960s with similar race-based decisions. Equity in sports can only happen when athletes are not subject to discrimination.

We call on USU to implement and follow its own proposed Transgender Athlete Policy. We ask other teams in the Mountain West Conference to develop fair and humane policies that recognize the dignity of all athletes. Our students deserve nothing less.

Signed,

Aggie Sports Fans

Signatories:

Tammy Proctor

Alison Cook

Tim Curran

Avery Edenfield

Christy Glass

Jess Lucero

Guadaloupe Marquez-Velarde

Mollie Murphy

Mario Suarez