#reduxx

Darrell Lucus at Loud, Liberal, Christian:

For the better part of 2024, San Jose State University’s volleyball team drew considerable attention over the presence of a woman on the roster suspected of being trans. Namely, senior Blaire Fleming. After gender-critical site Reduxx posted an article that purported to out Fleming in April, several teams inside and outside the Mountain West Conference forfeited their matches against the Spartans. It was generally believed that the forfeits came because of opposition to Fleming’s presence on the Spartans’ roster, though only two opponents—Boise State and Nevada—explicitly said so. The forfeits came to the open cheers of many on the right, led by Riley Gaines of OutKick. Gaines spearheaded a class action Title IX lawsuit against the NCAA seeking to have Fleming declared ineligible—a lawsuit joined by two of Fleming’s teammates. Those objecting to Fleming being on the team cite safety concerns about playing against a trans woman. But unless I missed something, no one has asked why anyone even attempted to out Fleming in the first place. The general consensus is that it is almost never acceptable to out someone who doesn’t want to be out—which is why I’m not linking to the Reduxx piece. Some have argued that virtually the only exception is if someone is actively harming the LGBTQ community, but even that argument can be highly fraught.

Now who would think it would be at all acceptable to attempt to out Fleming as trans? Well, a closer look into the background of one of Reduxx’s co-founders, Anna Slatz, the author of the piece purporting to out Fleming, reveals one possible answer. According to Slatz’s biography on Wikipedia, the Canadian native first gained attention in January 2018, when she was attending the University of New Brunswick Saint John in Canada under the name Anna De Luca. In 2018, while she was editor-in-chief of UNBSJ’s student newspaper, The Baron, she published an unedited op-ed from Michael Thurlow, leader of the neo-Nazi National Socialist Canadian Labour Revival Party. She also published an interview she’d conducted with Thurlow. Both pieces were chock full of racist and anti-Semitic rhetoric, along with paeans to Hitler. As disturbing as that was by itself, Thurlow and his minions had recently plastered UNB’s main campus in Fredericton with racist posters.

[...]

As near as I can determine, the only people to have made the connection between Reduxx and Slatz’s egregious lapse of judgment as a student are a few sporadic posters on Twitter. That’s a shame, especially given that Slatz’s tactics set off all kinds of ethical alarm bells.

Slatz and others seem to think that trans women playing women’s sports pose such an existential threat to women’s sports that it justifies outing them. Do we really want to go down this road? It’s a open invitation to harassment that could potentially put the athlete and those around her in harm’s way. That’s not just in the abstract. After Slatz ran her article, Fleming was the target of vicious harassment and abuse, and was even mentioned by Donald Trump on the campaign trail. And of course, we’re ignoring the 500-pound gorilla in the room. What if Slatz is wrong and Fleming isn’t trans? She would potentially have grounds for one whopper of a libel and defamation suit—and seeing that she is a private person, she could really draw blood. But then again, we’re talking about a woman who found it acceptable to give an unfettered platform to a Nazi. The bottom line? There was no defensible reason whatsoever for Slatz to try to out Fleming. At best, it’s a gross invasion of privacy that put Fleming and innocent third parties at undue risk of harm. At best, it’s libel and defamation of the worst type. But then again, we’re talking about a woman who found it acceptable to give an unfettered platform to a Nazi.

nobody is infallible, especially when “radfem” sources cite conservative nationalist sources.

Erin Reed at Erin In The Morning:

Boise State University released a statement on Saturday indicating that it would forfeit its match against undefeated San Jose State University. The move comes after allegedly transgender volleyball player Blaire Fleming was outed by a Reduxx article and then targeted by her teammate Brooke Slusser, who corroborated Blaire’s outing in legal filings after Blaire spoke privately about her gender identity. Now, Slusser has joined a lawsuit with anti-trans campaigner Riley Gaines in attempting to force the NCAA to disallow transgender athletes from playing on teams of the same gender. In addition, ICONS, the anti-trans organization supporting the lawsuit, sent a letter to the Mountain West Conference’s university president outing Fleming, a move that ultimately led to Boise State’s decision to forfeit the game.

“San Jose State University (SJSU), a California state university and a member of the Mountain West Conference (MWC), along with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), are allegedly violating federal law by enforcing the NCAA's Transgender Eligibility Policies (TEP). These policies allow Blaire Fleming, a transgender-identifying male, to compete on SJSU's women's volleyball team,” said the letter, falsely asserting that Title IX bans transgender athletes from competing.

Notably, transgender participation in sports does not violate any federal law. Title IX has been interpreted to protect transgender participation in sports, as evidenced by rulings from federal judges in the 9th Circuit area of jurisdiction, which covers states like California and Idaho. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals itself has ruled that transgender athletes can continue to participate in response to ongoing court cases. Title IX protections for trans athletes have likewise been affirmed in other circuits, such as the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, which upheld a similar ruling in West Virginia. Fleming originally played in South Carolina but was forced to transfer to California after the state threatened and then later enacted a ban on transgender athletes competing in women’s sports. Upon transferring, she became Slusser’s roommate, according to Slusser’s legal filing. In her lawsuit, Slusser claims that she was unaware Fleming was transgender, a point that challenges the argument that people “can always tell” who is transgender—a common argument against transgender inclusion. Slusser’s legal filing consistently misgenders Fleming throughout.

[...] The complaint, along with various news sites, highlights Fleming’s height of 6'1". For instance, Must Read Alaska describes Blaire as "a physically imposing transgender player" who "is 6'1" and towers over opposing teams." However, a quick glance at the San Jose State University (SJSU) website shows that 7 out of 25 players on the team are 6 feet or taller. Additionally, 11 of Boise State’s players exceed 6 feet in height, with many taller than Blaire. None of these athletes are accused of possessing an unfair advantage, despite their bodies being very similar to Blaire’s in appearance and size. There is no evidence that Blaire, or that most transgender players who have been on hormone therapy for 2+ years, retain a significant advantage over cisgender female athletes in the sport of volleyball. [...] As Slusser and ICONS' lawsuit remains unresolved, the broader landscape for transgender athletes continues to evolve, particularly in states like California, where legal protections are robust. Blaire Fleming's place on the team appears secure for now, but the future of transgender rights, including participation in sports and access to gender-affirming care, is currently in the hands of the Supreme Court, which will rule on the issue of equal protection in the coming months. The outcome of these upcoming rulings will not only impact individual athletes like Blaire but will also shape the rights and recognition of transgender people across the nation for years to come.

The government-backed Dutch Human Rights Institute has come to the defense of a trans-identified male who reported a woman to police for requesting he stay out of women’s spaces. Alexandra Erné regularly posts exhibitionist and BDSM photos on publicly-accessible websites.

On November 8, the Institute issued a statement asserting that violence against women impacted victims based on “gender identity” and “gender expression” rather than biological sex.

In response, women's right activist Lydia Daniel wrote: “Men who admit that they get a kick out of voyeurism and exhibitionism given access to our locker room, THAT is also violence,” she said, emphasizing her point by uploading some fetish photos first posted by Erné. “You did that. And it is inequality based on sex, not gender. You can’t even name what’s going wrong.”

Bonus: on Alexandra's online profile we can read they are a "demisexual lesbian woman" with various kinks including exhibitionism.

"Adieu Paris.

I came here when I saw a man punch a woman on live TV.

Imane Khelif will do it again today.

I will leave you with this from former World Boxing Champion Barry McGuigan:

“The situation is one catastrophic blow from tragedy.. IOC playing God.”

STOP THE FIGHT! -John James, Twitter

The European Vice President of the World Boxing Organization has come forward to confirm that Algerian boxer Imane Khelif is male.

"István Kovács says he warned the Olympic Committee about several male boxers in the women's category, but nothing was done." REDUXX

A convicted child sex offender is performing community outreach for an organization that advises incarcerated men on how to declare a transgender status and legally change their identification.

Xena Grandichelli, born Jeffrey Willsea, is a biological male who now identifies as a woman. In 1994, Grandichelli pleaded guilty to 11 counts of sexual abuse involving a 3 year-old girl and was designated a sexually violent offender. His sex offender registration categorizes him as a risk level 3, which denotes the highest recidivist risk and a threat to public safety. New York State law restricts level 3 sex offenders from being within 1,000 feet of a school.

Yet since his release from prison, Grandichelli has become a highly-regarded trans activist and has spoken at top-tier universities. In 2017, he was a panelist representing “women’s experiences of incarceration” at Columbia University. In 2016, Grandichelli spoke at NYU on the topic of incarceration and trauma. In the same year, he led a workshop on trans issues for the National Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender People of Color Health Conference.