UW Inaction as Prospective Athlete is Harassed by Anti-Trans Mob
By: The Nightly Crew
News outlets, particularly fringe outlets on the far-right and random twitter reactionaries, have been having a field day with the story of a prospective student volleyball athlete at UW. These reactionaries alleged that the prospective student is transgender, and that after they doxed her, the University of Washington rescinded the scholarship. Some of these claims may be true, yet it’s probable that many are not. I’ve spent the last week looking into the situation and hope to provide a detailed outline of fact and fiction. As a member of the trans community, I’ll also discuss the university’s confirmed actions and their impact on the community.
The Facts
After a lot of sleuthing, it became clear that many ‘facts’ that the reactionaries were spewing were dubious at best. Many were blurry and some were obvious examples of outright lying, as claims got more and more elaborate in Twitter's far right echo chamber. The right-wing hasn’t even produced enough certifiable evidence to decide whether the prospective student is transgender or not, although this is likely the case.
That being said, the presence of transgender athletes in division one sports is nothing new and transfeminine people have no advantage over cisgender athletes. In fact, transfeminine people are deeply under-represented in sports and their presence in them should be encouraged and supported. Unfortunately, transfeminine athletes are routinely brought up by reactionaries as a way to further their anti-trans agenda. Looking to Florida, athletics was used as an early stepping stone to further attacks on the trans community and as a tactic to activate the far right. Since then, numerous “hateful bills” have been passed to target the trans community and especially transgender people of color – as described by Gia Davila in an interview with The Nightly in October after being arrested by DeSantis for protesting these bills.
Back at UW, the only verifiable facts are as follows.
Far-right reactionaries have doxed the prospective student athlete and her family to millions of followers and viewers. The family has received significant harassment. This can and does cause significant trauma and harm to individuals and families.
The University of Washington, has not made any statements on the matter. They have neither confirmed nor denied the allegations of rescinding the scholarship. At the same time, UW has not publicly expressed any kind of support for the prospective student and her family nor have they expressed support for the larger transgender community.
UW’s official volleyball twitter account has been temporarily shut down. The impetus of this remains unclear, it was likely done to avoid transphobic vitriol in their replies, but also could have been in part done to avoid responsibility for a lack of support for the trans community.
The other important piece of information worth mentioning cannot be verified by The Nightly. The reactionary media outlet Breibart quotes the prospective student’s mother as saying: “[She] will not be playing volleyball at the University of Washington.” I won’t expand on this, as it is not from a credible source and more information is needed.
While it remains unclear, if the UW did side with the far right mob and revoke the scholarship, doing so would be even more harmful and transphobic.
Bystanders to Transphobia
Regardless of the prospective student’s current scholarship status, it is incredibly disappointing that the university has not taken a stronger stance on the issue and has chosen to remain silent. In this case, silence further enables harassment and violence against a prospective student, her family, and the larger transgender community. The lack of action demonstrates that the University of Washington has chosen to protect its reputation at the expense of protecting transgender youth.
UW’s inaction is shameful and warrants student action and uprising this coming quarter. In our opinion to remedy this situation, the university should take the following steps:
Reaffirm that the prospective student is welcome and that the scholarship is still available to her or that will be made available to her again.
Publicly condemn the doxing and harassment of a prospective student and her family.
Express support for the transgender community by making tangible changes on campus such as more gender neutral bathrooms and more funding for queer programs like the Q Center.
Both the University of Washington and University of Washington Athletics were contacted for this article, both chose not to comment.
Published 12-26-23
