San Jose State Spartans’ women’s volleyball team player Brooke Slusser has reacted after her assistant coach was suspended for speaking out against transgender team member Blaire Fleming.
Melissa Batie Smoose was the team’s assistant head volleyball coach. She has been suspended indefinitely. This came after she filed a Title IX complaint with the school alleging that Fleming conspired to lose a game and to try to hurt Slusser.
“My assistant coach told the truth to protect my squad. They (suspended) her. The only place we felt safe was in the program. She knew it was the right thing to do for the 18 women in the team. Slusser wrote: “Not one man.”
Slusser has also filed a suit against the school.
The lawsuit claims that San Jose State did not warn any of its recruits about the presence of a transgender person on the team. This was even though “this had become a widely known fact to virtually everyone at SJSU,” when she joined the lawsuit led by former college athlete and OutKick host Riley Gaines in May.
San Jose State released a statement to OutKick after the suspension.
The team stated that the associate head coach for the San Jose State University Women’s Volleyball team was not present at the time and they would not be able to provide any further information.
Batie Smoose stated that she was told not to speak with the media following the punishment.
She told OutKick that “this is another way San Jose State has tried to silence people who are speaking out for their First Amendment Rights and for what is right.”
She said she wants to “make certain I’m strong and that only women should participate in women’s sport.”
San Jose State defeated New Mexico 3-1 on Saturday. There are five games left to play in the season.
