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The argument that transgender Blaire Fleming is not ‘that good’ at volleyball is missing
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The argument that transgender Blaire Fleming is not ‘that good’ at volleyball is missing

Transgender volleyball player Blaire Fleming of San Jose State is back in the spotlight after a fifth school planned to cancel a match rather than compete against the biological male.

As OutKick exclusively reported earlier Monday, players on the Nevada Wolfpack women’s volleyball team voted to forfeit the Oct. 26 match against San Jose State.

Although the school issued a statement saying it “intends to proceed with the game as scheduled” and that “the players’ decision does not represent the position of the university.”

If Nevada ultimately doesn’t play, it would become the fourth Mountain West school to lose, joining Boise State, Wyoming and Utah State.

Southern Utah was the first school to cancel against SJSU, but that was a non-conference game that did not count as a win for San Jose State or a loss for SUU.

Most people applaud the women of these schools for standing up for their rights to compete fairly with fellow female athletes and refusing to compete against anyone born male.

However, there are still those who attack these girls and women and claim that Fleming has every right to compete in women’s volleyball despite being born with XY chromosomes.

One of the most common arguments in favor of Fleming is that Fleming isn’t “that good” at volleyball, so who cares?

After all, San Jose State has lost its last three games (at least the games it didn’t lose) after starting the season 9-0. The best player, Nayeli Ti’a, has missed all three matches due to injury.

For example, here is a paragraph from an op-ed in the Nevada Current:

“That means most of the teams that San Jose State has beaten have also been beaten by some other teams. And the two teams they beat that have winning records were 9-4 and 10-5 as of Monday. Solid numbers, but that’s not the case. “It doesn’t really suggest that they would have won if there wasn’t a trans player on the other team.”

I have received many messages on social media that reflect similar sentiments.

So the argument is clear: “Blaire Fleming isn’t even that good, so why should you care?”

This completely misses the point.

First off, I hope all the people who argued this were against Lia Thomas swimming in the 2022 NCAA Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships.

After all, Thomas won a National Championship. That makes Thomas “pretty good” at swimming, right? So if a transgender athlete is “pretty good,” he or she should not be allowed to compete. Isn’t that the logic here?

Is that where we want to be in this discussion, deciding whether a biological male is “too good” for women’s sports or just “good enough, but not that good” so they can play?

Do you see how silly this sounds if you follow the logic to its natural endpoint?

Whether a transgender athlete is dominant in women’s athletics is irrelevant. That player still deprives a woman of a spot on the team and possibly a college scholarship. That’s wrong.

That’s why teams give up instead of playing Blalire Fleming and San Jose State.

It has nothing to do with how good Fleming is at volleyball. It has to do with the fact that these women have no other recourse against a rule that promotes unfairness in women’s athletics.

There’s a reason San Jose State tried to hide the fact that Fleming was born a male from other schools. The school knew what the outcome would be.

Some people have also argued that teams played Fleming last year and the year before and there were no forfeits. At the time, they didn’t know that Fleming was a biological man.

RELATED: Brooke Slusser Says SJSU Tried to Cover Up Transgender Volleyball Player: ‘Just Sweeping It Under the Rug’

Advocates have used that as evidence that Fleming should be allowed to play women’s volleyball.

“You didn’t even know Fleming was transgender because she looks, acts and plays like a woman!”

Once again I ask: are these the criteria we want to use to translate this issue into law? Should we decide who gets to play women’s sports based on how they look, talk and act?

I shouldn’t have to explain why that’s a slippery slope that no one wants to tread.

To be clear, Blaire Fleming did nothing wrong. The rules say Fleming can play NCAA volleyball, so Fleming plays.

It is the rules that need to change and it is wrong to target Fleming. I’ve seen people call Fleming an “imposter.”

Well, that’s not accurate. I know some people get angry when I say that, but it’s true.

Fleming has followed the applicable rules and is therefore allowed to play.

I’ve talked to women who have come out against Fleming, and their message is almost universal: They’re not mad at Blaire Fleming, and they’re not protesting Fleming.

They protest the rules that allow biological males to participate in women’s sports.

In fact, almost every female athlete I’ve spoken to about this issue has expressed empathy for Fleming and other transgender athletes. It is not their fault that leadership has failed.

RELATED: SJSU’s Brooke Slusser discusses ‘hate’ she’s received since speaking out about transgender teammate

Because that’s who deserves the blame here. It’s not Fleming, and it’s not even San Jose State.

It’s the NCAA and the Mountain West Conference that refuse to come out and say biological males don’t belong in women’s sports.

Why? Because they’re afraid of the LGBTQ crowd. They fear the political implications. They are afraid of the possible negative reactions on social media.

Real leaders aren’t afraid of those things. They fight for fairness, regardless of whether it is popular.

It doesn’t matter how good Blaire Fleming is at volleyball.

The bottom line is that Fleming playing in women’s sports is unfair.

That’s the point, and it’s the only point that matters.