Utah State University filed a motion on Nov. 18 to join a lawsuit that asks the Mountain West Conference to exclude a woman from its volleyball tournament based on rumors that the player is transgender.

This official stance from the university does not reflect the views of all Aggies. While the specifics of gender segregation and eligibility requirements in athletics are complex issues, we protest the actions of the university and Gov. Spencer Cox, who asked USU to join the lawsuit.

In response to the university’s actions and a political atmosphere dominated by those whose actions are harming our transgender friends, family members, and loved ones, we affirm:

— Trans women are women. It is fundamentally impossible to protect women’s rights by attacking trans women’s rights.

— Trans women deserve the same respect and opportunity as all women and all people. Seeking to exclude trans people from public life is unacceptable.

— People have a fundamental right to choose how they identify themselves to others. In a society where transphobia and queerphobia are still rampant, outing a queer and/or transgender person (or accusing a cisgender or heterosexual person of being queer and/or trans) causes real, unjustifiable harm.

We stand in solidarity with transgender people, who are being targeted and will bear the most harm from these discriminatory actions.

But we also understand that harm will not be limited to trans women. Any political machinery built to target trans women will invariably be used to target cisgender women, as well. This is not only a pattern repeated throughout history, it has already happened in the arena of women’s sports to cisgender women athletes, as proven this summer with Olympians including Imane Khelif and Ilona Maher.

Participation standards created to exclude trans women are imposed upon all women. If rumors of ineligibility are all that’s needed before a woman is required to prove her gender “beyond a reasonable doubt,” those rumors can — and inevitably will — be used against any woman participating. 

You cannot protect women by attacking women.

Trans women are women.

— Steve Kent, USU alumnus and staff member.
This is my opinion as a private individual and does not represent the views of Utah State University or seek to speak on the university's behalf, in keeping with USU Policy 506.