Committee quickly salutes BSU forfeit
Vote comes after VB team decided not to play team with transgender member
BOISE — In one of the first legislative actions of the 2025 session, the House State Affairs committee on Tuesday introduced a resolution to commend the Boise State University volleyball team for forfeiting against a team that reportedly has a transgender player.
The committee voted unanimously after no discussion, clearing the way to bring the resolution forward for a full hearing and testimony.
Rep. Barbara Ehardt, R-Idaho Falls, sponsored the resolution, which also condemns the Mountain West Conference for its policies that allow trans players to compete under certain conditions.
“Boise State made a courageous decision,” Ehardt said.
BSU’s women’s volleyball team forfeited against San Jose State University twice in the regular season and then withdrew from the Mountain West Conference Tournament when the team was slated to play against SJSU, the Idaho Press previously reported.
Neither SJSU nor the player has made a comment on the player’s gender identity.
Boise State did not cite the transgender player or give a reason for its decision, but several other teams in the conference made a similar decision.
Three national groups lobbied BSU to forfeit: the Independent Council on Women’s sports, Concerned Women for America and Young Women for America, Idaho Education News previously reported.
Two Boise State players in November joined a lawsuit against the conference and SJSU opposing policies that allow transgender players to compete, Idaho Education News reported.
The Mountain West’s policy allows individual schools discretion, but requires any potential trans athlete to qualify under NCAA guidelines. The policy also says that if other schools refuse to compete against teams with a transgender athlete, they are required to forfeit.
The resolution introduced Tuesday calls on the NCAA to revoke this policy.
Ehardt named NCAA President Charlie Baker “for allowing this to happen.”
“This should never have happened,” she said.
Guido covers Idaho politics for the Lewiston Tribune, Moscow-Pullman Daily News and Idaho Press of Nampa. She may be contacted at lguido@idahopress.com and can be found on Twitter @EyeOnBoiseGuido.
