In 2022, Iowa’s legislature passed the Save Women’s Sports bill, which was signed into law by Gov. Kim Reynolds. The law restricts participation in sports designated for women or girls to students of the female sex at all levels of education.

In a letter2 to U.S. Senators dated August 21, 2024, NCAA President Charlie Baker indicated that member institutions have a right to opt out of participation in a policy that forces female athletes to compete on an unfair and unsafe playing field: 

"The NCAA’s transgender student-athlete participation policy is not mandatory, and federal, state and local laws supersede the Association’s policy. Schools may also choose to operate in a different way due to institutional values."

Title IX was enacted in 1972 to ensure equality of opportunity and benefits for student athletes on the basis of sex. Federal law allows separation by sex to respect and protect the enduring differences between the sexes, which includes matters of safety during play, privacy in locker rooms, and fairness in competition.

Yet the University of Iowa put its female volleyball players at risk of serious injury, along with those of other teams invented, by ignoring federal and state law, and inviting a team (San Jose State University) with a male player on its women's volleyball team to the Hawkeye Invitational on September 6-8, 2024. 

In April 2024, a news article reported that a male born player, Blaire Fleming, had been competing on San Jose State University’s women’s volleyball team since 2022. Blaire Fleming, formerly known as Brayden, previously competed on Coastal Carolina University’s women’s team. Despite this public revelation, San Jose State re-rostered Fleming as a redshirt senior for the 2024-25 season. One female member of the team has been forced to join a lawsuit against the NCAA to try to vindicate her rights as a female athlete, which have been trampled and ignored by the university. We should not allow this to happen in Iowa.

Join our effort to keep women's sports for women only!