UW Volleyball Player Urges Legislature To Expand Trans Sports Ban To College

A University of Wyoming volleyball player urged the Wyoming Senate Education Committee on Friday to extend a transgender sports ban to the college level.

The committee took her up on that suggestion, advancing Senate File 44, a bill that would require participation in athletic competition be limited to an athlete’s biological sex at birth.

The bill passed on a 4-1 vote with state Sen. Chris Rothfuss, D-Laramie, the only member voting against.

Boggs Speaks

Macey Boggs is a UW senior and a member of the school’s volleyball team. 

“I implore you to stop this injustice and preserve the future of female athletics, please vote yes today,” Boggs told the committee.

Boggs’ UW team decided to forfeit two games this past season against San Jose State University because of a transgender player on that team’s roster. Rothfuss said he believes the only reason UW forfeited those two games was because of pressure they received from members of the Legislature. 

Boggs called the experience an “injustice” because it prevented her team from qualifying for the Mountain West Conference tournament. 

But she sees the issue of transgender participation as not just about wins or losses, but of the larger issue of respect for women and girls.

“Either compete against a team rostering a male athlete on a woman’s scholarship, robbing us of fair and safe competition, or forfeit the rest of the season,” she told the committee, speaking remotely. “No female athlete should ever be put in such a position.” 

Boggs believes it’s fundamentally unfair to have female athletes competing against people who were biological males at birth and plans to “stand unapologetically for the truth.”

“It’s time for policy makers to make a stand and ensure that women’s sports remain a space where girls can learn that they deserve fairness and the opportunity to become champions,” she said. “No woman in the state of Wyoming should have her athletic career cut short because a male athlete robbed her of earned opportunities.”

Boggs is suing the Mountain West Conference along with two UW teammates and nine other coaches and athletes from other teams over what happened.

“While it may be too late for me to finish my career at Wyoming on the terms my team earned, it’s not too late for the young girls coming up behind us,” she said.

Lawmaker Perspective

Sen. Wendy Schuler, R-Evanston, a former college athlete, is the sponsor of SF 44 and chairman of the Senate Education Committee.

“Ultimately, as a former collegiate athlete, female athlete, I feel like I just needed to continue to make sure that our biological females are supported in every way we can, and this is my effort to do that,” Schuler said. 

Schuler said she based her bill off a similar piece of legislation passed in Texas in 2023.

She said she actually considered bringing her bill a few years ago but waited to see if the NCAA or NJCAA would handle the issue on their own first. They didn’t.

“They really kind of passed the buck,” Schuler said.

Western Wyoming Community College President Kirk Young said it’s important to support all student athletes and that his school will abide by all state laws. Although he has questions about how his school would enforce the bill, Young said Western supports it.

Rothfuss said he sees the issue as an “ongoing struggle” that needs to be addressed, but views the bill as taking that decision-making away from those like athletic organizations and individual schools that he believes can handle it best.

“We need to do the hard work instead of the easy approach, the easy approach is the hammer,” Rothfuss said. “These communities can do it.”

Young said it would be better for lawmakers to let schools work with their collegiate sporting organizations for guidance on transgender athletics. He believes the lack of guidance from the NCAA is what led to UW having to forfeit their games.

“I would prefer that kind of direction,” he said.

What It Does

Senate File 44 would require athletes at UW and the state’s community colleges to compete in sports according to their biological sex at birth. 

Schuler said she isn’t aware of any transgender athletes competing at the collegiate level in Wyoming, but said there was “a handful” competing at the high school level when she passed her 2023 legislation banning this participation for youths.

There is nothing in SF 44 preventing transgender people from participating in sports as long as it’s their biological sex at birth, and Schuler clarified that if a woman wanted to play in a male sport at the school this would still be allowed. That the bill impacts male to female participation, but not the other way around, Rothfuss described as “discriminatory.”

Rothfuss criticized the bill as overly broad and expressed concern it would also involve intramural and club level sports, and cheerleading. Schuler said she considered this aspect and clarified her intention is strictly regulating intercollegiate-level play. An amendment was passed clarifying this point.

“My intent is strictly the NCAA athletic competitions,” Schuler said.

SF 44 also wouldn’t block UW from playing other women’s teams with transgender players on their rosters. She said that could be addressed by UW itself.

A different bill sponsored by Rep. Martha Lawley, R-Worland, would block that competition.

“I didn’t want to go into that because I feel like that may end up hurting some of our athletes,” Schuler said.

Perspectives Of The People

Laramie resident Nyoka Erikson competes in roller derby and said transgender players have been competing in that sport for almost 10 years with no restrictions. She believes local control should rule these types of issues and is what makes her believe that Schuler’s bill is unnecessary.

“There’s other issues that I wish the state of Wyoming would work on to protect me, and this is not one of them,” Erikson said.

Colorado resident Erin Lee testified that her child was secretly transitioned into being a boy three years ago. She co-founded Protect Kids Colorado and brought a citizen’s ballot initiative there to enshrine in Colorado what Schuler’s bill attempts to do.

“You have the chance to do the right thing here in Wyoming,” she said. “Please protect the more vulnerable in this state.”

Naomi Nye, a representative of the group Gays Against Groomers, said women are being hindered in athletic competition by transgender participation, and therefore athletic scholarships and job opportunities later in life.

“The reality is that biological sex matters in sports,” she said. “Where’s the compassion for these girls?”

A recent United Nations report titled "Violence Against Women and Girls in Sports" found that transgender athletes have won around 900 medals in different women's sports at several events. It says that more than 600 female athletes had lost against people born male in a variety of competitions.

Sara Burlingame, director of LGBTQ advocacy organization Wyoming Equality, conceded she expects the bill to pass, but said it still deserves ample conversation and debate. She suggested amendments “to bring more fairness” in athletic competition. 

Patricia McCoy, chapter president of the Cheyenne branch of Moms For Liberty, said her organization supports the bill with no amendments.

Rothfuss said there is a broad disparity in the funding gaps between male and female sports throughout collegiate athletics. He asked McCoy what other issues Moms For Liberty have spoken out on when it comes to fairness in female sports besides transgender participation. 

McCoy said her group has been active in calling for better funding and “look at all aspects of everything that goes into women and girls’ athletics.”

She also said UW should never have had to forfeit matches against San Jose State, but Schuler’s bill would do nothing to prevent that from happening again in the future.

She also criticized Wyoming for failing to get ahead of the issue, but Wyoming sued President Joe Biden’s administration last summer for its Title IX rules that allow transgender participation in sports.

Burlingame said there are extreme viewpoints on both sides of the issue.

Leo Wolfson can be reached at leo@cowboystatedaily.com.