Over the past several weeks, transgender woman’s volleyball player Blaire Fleming for the San Jose State Spartans has been the center of controversy as five different college teams have refused to play against San Jose State as a result of the transgender woman on the roster. But it seems that many people have seen the truth about the situation.
While transgender critics insist that Fleming has been dominating the competition as a transgender woman, that simply is not the case. In fact, last season, San Jose State had a losing record with Fleming in the lineup, losing the majority of their games as most opponents didn’t even notice she was transgender.
Even this year, Fleming has been far from San Jose State’s most important or dominant player, or even the team’s best player at her position. Outside hitter Nayeli Ti’a has been the team’s best player this season. Without her, San Jose State has lost each of their last three matches, only winning one set in those three matches.
As many people have come to realize, the outrage directed at Fleming isn’t about fairness or safety, as transgender critics suggest. Instead, it is simply about hate and perpetuating anti-trans talking points.
“To be totally blunt here: Blaire Fleming is not even that good. Pure cruelty for its own sake,” one person wrote on social media.
“I need people to actually watch elite women’s volleyball OHs and stop crying about this because she’s not even that good. AND in the portal and NIL era if she was, someone from a top tier would have tried to poach. She meets ncaa qualifications, people need to get over it,” another person said.
“Blaire Fleming is a redshirt senior in her 4th season of NCAA volleyball (3 at SJSU, 1 at Coastal Carolina.) She’s been good, not dominant. Last year SJSU went 13-18. But now opponents who didn’t notice or care that she might be trans for years are forfeiting games to avoid her?” another fan added.
“San Jose State is 9-0 and appears better than they are. Now that Wyoming, S. Utah, Utah State and Boise State) have made this into a national issue, other schools may forfeit as well. And the narrative — that SJSU is good because of a trans player — will perpetuate itself,” another person added.
“I mean, that’s the thing. There’s no evidence that Blaire Fleming has any unfair advantage over other players (or advantage, period), but it’s not about that. It’s about the idea that trans women should be barred from public life. They simply don’t want us to exist,” another person added.
“There’s no evidence that being trans offers a physiological advantage in sports, and in fact evidence against this; however, even if there were I’m uninterested in privileging cys women over trans women,” another person said.
Clearly, the issue is not that Fleming has been dominant.
