BOISE, Idaho — Back in 2020, Idaho became the first state to ban transgender girls and women from playing on teams for which they identified. There was a question of whether that was even a thing here in Idaho. Well, it was, as evidenced by the subsequent lawsuit filed in April by a transgender woman who wanted to run on the Boise State cross country team. There's currently an injunction against the Fairness in Women's Sports Act from being enforced while the lawsuit plays out here in Idaho. But that doesn't mean the law hasn't cast its shadow.
There was the double down by Idaho's governor last month when he signed an executive order to combat the Biden administration's interpretation of Title IX which includes protections for transgender athletes. He did it on the statehouse steps, standing beside Riley Gaines, a collegiate swimmer who lost a race against a transgender athlete. And then, last week, Boise State forfeited its women's volleyball game against San Jose State University, allegedly because the Spartans have a transgender woman on their team. Allegedly, since BSU didn't explain why they are forfeiting the match.
They only went on to say that they will not play the game against San Jose State in California on Saturday, and per Mountain West Conference policy, that match will be recorded as a conference loss for the Broncos.
No other comment or explanation was offered. It was about that time on Friday, Sept. 26, we learned there was some history of forfeiture against San Jose State. According to OutKick, a Heritage Foundation website, in 2022, San Jose State enrolled a transfer player from Coastal Carolina, Blair Fleming, a 6 foot 1 inch outside hitter.
Shortly after that, South Carolina passed its own transgender athlete ban. Then, in March 2024, Gaines joined 15 other athletes in a lawsuit against the NCAA for allowing transgender women to compete against cisgender women.
That lawsuit has been supported by the Independent Council on Women's Sports or 'ICONS' as they call themselves. About a month later, Reduxx, an online publication that prides itself on reporting about pedophiles, outed Blair Fleming as transgender. That story dropped April 17 and said Blair told her teammate, Brooke Slusser, she identified as a transgender woman.
This is according to Slusser's amendment to that lawsuit, the 'ICONS' lawsuit, in the Riley Gaines lawsuit which she filed on September 23. In the amendment, she said she never knew and should have been told Fleming was transgender.
About a week before that, Southern Utah University forfeited its match against San Jose State without saying why.
Then, on September 24, 'ICONS' sent a letter to all Mountain West Conference school presidents saying they're violating federal law and they should find Fleming ineligible to play. Three days later, Boise State backed out of its match against San Jose State. And of course, you've seen all of the social media coverage, both good and bad, that Boise State received. Even a shout out from the governor saying they are protecting women's sports.
Well, in the middle of all that, there's a Middleton mom who got herself involved.
April Chainey has a daughter who plays volleyball at another Mountain West Conference school, and on September 22, just days before the 'ICONS' letter was sent to conference schools, Chainey penned a letter to the same school presidents because, as she told us, she wanted to defend her daughter's place in the game.
We asked her if a transgender woman wanted to play sports with other women, isn't the only option for her to play on the women's team?
"A transgender athlete who is a biological male is not a woman," Chainey said. "And that's just words. They're not a woman because they don't have a uterus and they don't get a period. It's basic biology. They're not a woman, they're not."
"And what are your concerns?" I asked.
"The concerns are safety, number one, especially in volleyball, because the net difference is different," Chainey said. "It's men's volleyball versus women's volleyball. There is a difference in height and the reason why, because men are biologically made bigger, stronger and faster. So that ball's coming over the net, stronger, faster."
Blair Fleming is 6 foot 1 inch tall, which Chainey acknowledged.
There are other women on the team who are the same height. We asked if there is still an advantage.
"Yes, because a biological male can jump higher and can hit harder," added Chainey.
Blair has played on San Jose State's team. This will be her third year. The first two years there didn't seem to be a concern or a problem, but Chainey said, "Fleming had not come out as stating that he was a male. It was unknown. There was no transparency," Chainey stated.
"If there was no problem and nobody raised any concerns, but then she comes out as transgender. Can you see how that might seem a little transphobic?" I asked.
"I wasn't involved then. I'm involved now. So I'm speaking on today. I am involved and I know so I have to speak on what I know right now," said Chainey.
In her letter to all university presidents in the Mountain West, Chainey said she emphasized safety and fairness. She also asked schools to boycott matches against the Spartans.
Chainey said she heard nothing back but added, "I get a lot of support for what I'm doing because it's, this is really out of my wheelhouse speaking up like this. It's very unusual. So they all support me and they're cheering for me and that, but they're afraid. They are afraid to speak out."
"How do you know this? What have they said?" I asked.
"Well, they're afraid that they're going to be viewed as transphobic or hateful. They're afraid of losing their jobs for speaking up. They're afraid of their female student athlete losing their spot. So I, I get it and I respect the place that they're at right now, but we need more people speaking up. We need players, we need fans and we need parents," Chainey said.
"What do you want to see happen?" I asked.
"I would like to see the NCAA separate collegiate sports by biological sex and protect the female category. No gray area. There's no gray area. We are born either a male or a female and I'm not too sure how we got to this gray area in sports because, because sports have always been separated by sex, there's always been separation in sports to make it fair."
Chainey added that she's risked a lot to do this, even her relationship with her daughter.
"My daughter has asked me not to speak about this. She asked me twice, begged me a third time. She doesn't want this drama on her team. She doesn't want to deal with this and she never asked for this attention and I never wanted that for her. But, as of right now, she's really upset with me upset, not talking to me. And I told her when she asked me each time, you know, I said, 'I'm sorry, I can't do that.' This issue is bigger than you. It's bigger than your team. It's bigger than your conference. It's women's sports on the line here," Chainey said. "And I'm just hoping the foundation we have built, that she'll see this and understand why."
The NCAA has not responded to our request for comment. The Mountain West deferred to Boise State's previous comments.
San Jose State is scheduled to play at Bronco Gym on November 21. A decision on whether that game will be played has not been announced.