Blaire Fleming poses for her headshot as she starts her season at San Jose State University, after she transferred from Coastal Carolina University.
Full roster of the San Jose State volleyball team lined up for professional photos.

Blaire Fleming, a volleyball player on the women’s San Jose State University team, has made headlines as teammates and others have discovered she is transgender. Multiple NCAA teams have forfeited, refusing to play San Jose State University (SJSU) as it is “a risk to their players’ safety.”

Her former roommate and current teammate, Brooke Slusser, has chosen to advocate against transgender athletes in women’s sports, arguing that athletes’ safety and fairness are at risk. On the other hand, LGBTQ+ advocacy groups, such as Equality California, have spoken about supporting Fleming through her sports career.
Keira Sisuphan, junior and varsity volleyball player, explains her insight and experience with inclusivity in sports.
“I have not played a transgender woman before; either way, I would see it as a little bit of an unfair advantage as men are born stronger, and my team would think it’s a little unfair as well,” Sisuphan said.
According to the National Institutes of Health, males typically outperform females by 10 percent to 30 percent. On the other hand,Although a majority of transgender athletes have had gender- reaffirming surgery and hormone therapy, decreasing physical ability to that of biological females. However, there still remains a percentagepercent of athletes that have not had those procedures. M Because of this statistic, many opponents of SJSU have forfeited as they believe that it would be unfair to play a biological male who identifies as a woman. Slusser is in a lawsuit against the NCAA, which aims to ban transgender women from playing in women’s sports.

“I think suing her is a little too much,” said Sisuphan.
With sports becoming more inclusive, the conversation of transgender athletes competing at professional levels is brought up. At the high school level, it is legal in California for transgender athletes to compete in sports and leagues with the sex they identify with. Of course, there are players and parents who argue against it, but there are also those who support and stand with the inclusivity of high school sports.
Freshman Fin Braun is an incoming player for girls’ basketball. She looks forward to playing against new competition but agrees with Sisuphan that playing with biological boys would be unfair.
“I support all transgender people,” Braun said. “I just don’t think it would be fair to play against a transgender girl, especially since guys are scientifically proven to be stronger than girls.”
Although she thinks it would be unethical to play against transgender girls, she also feels that if she were a transgender girl, she would feel discriminated against if she couldn’t play with the sports team that she identifies with.
“If I were a transgender boy, I would feel really bad if I couldn’t play with the boys team,” Braun said. “I see both points of view.”
With the new controversies of transgender athletes being included in Division One sports, there continue to be conflicting ideas. Brooke Fleming and her old roommate continue to battle both sides, advocating for the opposite ideas. With college-level sports dealing with these conversations also comes high-school-level sports dealing with controversy over inclusion in sports.