Having a trans-identifying male player on the San José State University women’s volleyball team was a very difficult experience, says the coach who was allegedly punished for speaking out about it.
Melissa Batie-Smoose was suspended indefinitely as the Spartans’ associate head coach last month, just days after filing a Title IX complaint accusing San José State of showing favoritism to trans-identifying player Blaire Fleming over his female teammates on the volleyball team.
Batie-Smoose, a 33-year veteran of coaching collegiate sports, said that when she was hired at San Jose State, she was not aware there was a trans-identifying male on the team.
“I moved my whole family across the country” from Connecticut, she told Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) on the Tuesday episode of her podcast, “Unmuted with Marsha.”
“And then once we were informed we were silenced and…
