By james art Members of the UNR volleyball team participated in a “Women’s Sports Are Women Only” rally Saturday afternoon in Reno.
They were scheduled to play San Jose State University at noon, but became the fifth team to pull out of the Spartans Thursday night as part of their ongoing protest against the participation of transgender women in sports.
The rally was originally scheduled to be held at the Little Waldorf Saloon, but was moved to the larger Reno-Sparks Convention Center.
The event was organized by the Independent Council on Women’s Sports, which funded a lawsuit against the NCAA’s inclusion policies.
Spartans team captain Brooke Slusser joined the lawsuit in September. She singled out teammate Blair Fleming in the statement, saying she wanted her off the team because of the accusation that she was transgender.
Slusser’s name was met with cheers when it was mentioned during the rally. Sam Brown, the Republican candidate for a Nevada Senate seat, was in the crowd.
Nine UNR players took the stage, but not all spoke. UNR team captain Sia Liilli offered the opening words. In her speech, she said UNR ignored players who released a statement about the San Jose State loss saying they didn’t understand the science.
“Before I came out and released the statement with my name on it, I was pretty scared because I didn’t know how people would react to this controversial topic and I didn’t want to be seen as someone who was hateful or anything hostile. But the amount of support makes it all worth it,” Liili told the Review-Journal before the rally.
Nevada Lt. Gov. Stavros Anthony, a Republican, also took the stage at the event, saying he wants to pass a law against the inclusion of transgender athletes to protect women.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Contact Callie Fin at [email protected]. Follow @CallieJLaw on X.