Suspended San Jose State University women’s volleyball associate head coach Melissa Batie-Smoose said that “safety is being taken away from women” and has continued to speak out against a trans-identifying male, Blaire Fleming, on the team.
“Safety is being taken away from women,” Batie-Smoose told Fox News’ “America Newsroom on Monday. “Fair play is taken away from women. We need more and more people to do this and fight this fight because women’s sports, as we know it right now, will be forever changed.”
Batie-Smoose was suspended indefinitely from her job when she took the side of the women on the team who didn’t want to play with the biological male player, after she filed a Title IX complaint against her school.
In the complaint, the suspended coach alleged that the trans-identifying male player “conspired with an opponent to help the team lose a match and injure teammate Brooke Slusser,“ who has spoken out about the inclusion of trans players in women’s sports, the New York Post noted.
After the suspension came down on November 2, SJSU released a statement that the associate head coach of the women’s team “is not with the team at this time, and we will not provide further information on this matter,” OutKick reported.
Coach Batie-Smoose from SJSU just showed us what true leadership looks like. By risking & ultimately losing her job, she’s standing up for her athletes & the future of women’s sports because ‘safety & fair play are being taken away for women.’ Her courage should inspire us all!… pic.twitter.com/HEyoP8yUqk
— Kaitlynn Wheeler (@WheelerKaitlynn) November 11, 2024
Batie-Smoose said following news of the discipline, “This is just another form of what San Jose State has been trying to do – silence people that are speaking up for their First Amendment rights and for what’s right,” the outlet noted.
Slusser later reacted to Batie-Smoose’s suspension and said the women on the team “aren’t happy and we don’t feel safe anymore,” OutKick reported. “Melissa was that person that we felt like as long as she was there, we had someone that would stand up for us. And now there’s no one there that will.”
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“I don’t think the school sees how much they just basically ruined this program by taking Melissa away from us,” she added. “So, who knows what’s to come in the future [with regard] to what our team will do or how we will react from this.”
Five schools have forfeited playing SJSU in protest of the biological male star player on the CA team. Those schools include Southern Utah University, Boise State University, the University of Wyoming, Utah State University, and the University of Nevada.
UNR was initially resistant to canceling its women’s volleyball match after members of UNR’s women’s team refused to play against SJSU and Fleming.
“We, the University of Nevada Reno women’s volleyball team, forfeit against @SJSU and stand united in solidarity with the volleyball teams of Southern Utah University, Boise State University, the University of Wyoming, & Utah State University,” the statement read in part, as previously reported.
Later, the university released its own statement showing it did not support the move by the women’s team. Backlash ensued against the school, however, and vocal advocates called on the girls to hold the line and refuse to play, as previously reported.
Related: University Turns On Its Women’s Team Over Refusal To Play Against Trans-Identifying Athlete
