San Jose State’s Brooke Slusser Supports Trump’s Trans Athlete Ban After Alleged School Dishonesty

EXCLUSIVE: San Jose State University women’s volleyball captain Brooke SlusserThe 21-year-old admits that she has only become involved in politics in the last few years. But she made it a priority to vote a week early this year in her home state of Texas.

Slusser is currently embroiled in a lawsuit against the NCAA for its position on the matter gender ideology in women’s sports after she reportedly shared a volleyball court, locker room and room during late-night outings with a teammate without ever being told that person was a trans athlete. She claims her team deliberately tried to hide that player’s gender identity from her and her teammates.

And now she’s reached the point where she believes a nationwide ban on trans inclusion in women’s and girls’ sports is “necessary.” Former President Trump has endorsed the idea of ​​a ban on transgender athletes in women’s sports as a major campaign issue in recent weeks, and Slusser expressed support for the idea in an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital.

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“I think it’s completely necessary,” Slusser said of Trump’s proposed ban. “I don’t think this should ever have been allowed and this should have been done legally. And I think so many people know it’s not right and for some reason they still decide to support it, for whatever other reason. They did that, and I think in everyone’s mind: you know it’s not right. I mean, when you have to hide something for so long, like SJSU did, you have to know it’s not right.”

Slusser also said she believes the issue of trans inclusion in women’s sports should even be a political issue. Yet she acknowledges that only one political party has consistently taken steps to oppose and prevent it.

“There’s more of one side of a political party that kind of agrees with what I’m doing compared to the other side, but there’s still so many people on both sides of the political parties that agree with this,” Slusser said. “Trump talks about how if he were president, none of this would happen and it would just be banned. And those statements make it more involved in politics and bring it more to light. So it deals with politics, but ultimately it has nothing to do with politics.

“One side is fighting it, and the other side has decided not to.”

Democrats who previously voted for laws that would allow transgender inclusion in women’s sports have publicly denounced their support for the concept in the weeks leading up to Election Day. These Democrats include Texas Rep. Collin Allred, Texas Rep. Vicente Gonzalez and Alaska Rep. Peltola. Meanwhile, Ohio Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown recently defended himself when linked to the issue, claiming he never supported allowing biological males in women’s sports.

“This is already banned in Ohio,” Brown boasted in a campaign ad released in October.

Vice President Kamala Harris has not spoken extensively about her position on the issue since becoming the official Democratic nominee in July.

“For a Democrat, it’s very much up in the air. I don’t think anyone can guess what would happen with that. I think everyone can assume at this point that not much will change,” Slusser said. “We can have much more confidence that if Trump is elected, things will be handled the right way we want.”

Slusser, originally from Texas, began her college career at the University of Alabama in 2021 before transferring to San Jose State for the 2023 season. When she moved to California to play volleyball for the Spartans, it was the first time in her life and athletic career that she moved to a state that had laws protecting trans inclusion in women’s sports rather than restricting it, as in Texas and Alabama. .

His move to San Jose State left Slusser at the mercy of an administration heavily influenced by Democratic politics, and a state that offers more protections to transgender people than most people in the US.

In the 2020 election cycle, 94.38% of donations from San José State University employees went to Democratic candidates in the federal election, while 5.62% of donations went to Republican candidatesaccording to data from Open secrets. The university was also one of many to demand a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for students and employees.

California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act classifies public schools as business establishments and provides “equal accommodations, benefits, facilities, privileges, or services” to “all persons…regardless of sex.”

In Slusser’s case, those accommodations for her transgender teammate ultimately included a veil of secrecy about their birth gender. And Slusser’s experience under all these circumstances has resulted in an experience so traumatic that she insists she would never have transferred to San Jose State if she could do it all over again. She believes her transgender teammate, Blaire Fleming, has been favored and protected over her and the rest of her teammates, who are concerned about the situation.

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“I think everyone around me and in the gym can see that they are not here to support me. They are here to support Blaire, and they have decided that basically they will do everything they can to continue to support Blaire and not to do that.” there for me and my needs,” Slusser said. “I just decided you can’t really trust anyone here.”

Slusser says she “doesn’t feel safe” playing for any of the current coaches on the staff.

San Jose State recently suspended associate head volleyball coach Melissa Batie-Smoose filed a Title IX complaint against the school earlier this week, alleging that San Jose State showed favoritism toward Fleming at the expense of the women on the team. Slusser says Batie-Smoothe was the only coach at the program who supported her decision to join the lawsuit and advocate for the protection of female athletes.

“After we found out she was released, a lot of the team broke down and panicked, and even one of my teammates said, ‘I don’t feel safe anymore,’ because no one is there.” now that we feel like we can start talking about our concerns or our real feelings and actually speak freely in front of them,” Slusser said.

Slusser says she doesn’t feel safe talking to anyone else at the program, even head coach Todd Kress.

“You can’t really express how you feel without them just trying to cover it up or pretend that it’s all okay. With Melissa you can express how you feel, and she can comfort you and validate your feelings and at the very least confirm your feelings.” you feel heard compared to the other coaches,” said Slusser.

Kress previously said the tension created in the locker room due to the current situation was “not a bad thing” despite the potential impact on the player’s mental health.

“Sometimes tension isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and I’m not saying that it is. But you know, when you have tension or you have confrontations, I mean, I’m someone who believes that through confrontation, well, usually things happen. We are resolving our differences, and we’re working through it,” Kress told reporters on Oct. 3.

But Slusser does not agree with the head coach.

“I would have to disagree with him on that, but it feels like you have to walk on eggshells when you have certain people in the locker room where we obviously don’t agree with what’s happening,” Slusser said. “So we are slowly getting more and more angry about the situation, without knowing what to do.”

Fox News Digital reached out to San Jose State University for comment but did not receive a response at time of publication.

San Jose State has previously defended the program’s selection as complying with NCAA rules.

“Our athletes all comply with NCAA and Mountain West Conference policies and are eligible to play under the rules of those organizations. We will continue to take steps to prioritize the health and safety of our students as they pursue their earned opportunities to compete.” read a statement previously provided to Fox News Digital.

The university has also previously declined to publicly comment on or acknowledge Fleming’s gender assigned at birth.

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Slusser says she has not spoken to Fleming at all since joining the lawsuit. When Slusser reflects on interactions with Fleming before she knew the player’s natural birth gender, she admits she regrets “opening up” with the trans player in a way she wouldn’t have if she had known that Fleming was a biological male.

Looking ahead now, Slusser has no plans to play volleyball again after this season. She also says the outcome of the current election will now influence the fate of whether she even lets her potential future daughter play organized girls’ sports.

“If I knew there was a man playing where my daughter was supposed to be playing, or playing against my daughter, my daughter would not be involved in that situation. I would never allow that to happen to my daughter, just knowing that I have experienced it, just knowing that it is not good, it is not fair and it is not safe,” Slusser said when asked about the consequences of a possible Harris victory.

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