By CatholicVote | Created at 2024-11-27 16:31:17 | Updated at 2024-11-27 18:45:30
2 hours ago
CV NEWS FEED // Colorado’s 10th Circuit District Court Nov. 26 ruled against an injunctive relief request of a dozen college female volleyball players before the Mountain West Conference tournament, allowing a biological male to participate in the tournament beginning Nov. 27.
As CatholicVote previously reported, the plaintiffs’ lawyers sought injunctive relief for three things: to disqualify San Jose State University’s male player Blaire (born Brayden) Fleming from playing in the regional tournament, to overturn losses of teams who previously forfeited against San Jose, and to overturn the corresponding wins of San Jose.
The lawyers argued that the Mountain West Conference’s adoption of a “Transgender Player Policy” was a violation of the players’ Title IX and First Amendment rights. The policy was added to the handbook in September without a vote from the conference, after Boise State University was the first team to forfeit against San Jose.
Outkick reported that Judge S. Kato Crews ruled that Title IX policies protect “transgender” players, arguing that the policies apply to people based on their gender identity, not their biology, per Biden-era changes to Title IX.
Crews wrote in his ruling, “The threatened injury to the movants if an injunction issues is outweighed by the MWC’s interest in holding the upcoming MWC Tournament without an eleventh-hour shake-up to its currently planned structure.”
He continued, “The relief requested with the Emergency Motion would risk confusion and upend months of planning and would prejudice, at a minimum, Defendants and other teams participating in the tournament depending on the results of any reseeding.”
Utah State University had also moved to join the lawsuit; however, Crews denied its claim: “The movants have failed to meet their burden to show irreparable harm, thus justifying denial of the Emergency Motion and USU’s motion partially joining in it.”
Outkick stated the “plaintiffs announced hours after the ruling that they would be filing an emergency appeal to the Tenth Circuit asking for an emergency injunction.”
“This is certainly not the end of the case from the legal perspective,” Outkick added. “Crews’ decision only applied to the injunctive relief motion.”
