UC Davis athletics asked San Jose State for advice on a 'prospective' transgender athlete, emails reveal

An athletics official from the University of California at Davis reached out to a San Jose State University athletics official for advice on how to bring a transgender athlete aboard one of its teams.

According to documents obtained by writer Dan Zaksheske, Melissa Hughes, the associate athletics director of sports medicine at UC Davis, emailed SJSU's senior associate athletic director about bringing a potential transgender student athlete onto a UC Davis sports team.

The associate athletic director, Laura Alexander, would likely have a plethora of knowledge in terms of dealing with a transgender athlete after SJSU grabbed national headlines throughout 2024 for featuring a male athlete on its women's volleyball team. Blaire Fleming — born Brayden — is a 6'1'' male whose participation in NCAA women's volleyball games spawned a series of forfeits from opposing team and helped spark a national movement to protect women's sports.

'Happy to chat.'

"We have a prospective student athlete who is transgender, and I was told you have a current student athlete who is transgender," Hughes wrote to Alexander in an email sent September 16, 2024. "Primarily I would like to know what you may have done with respect to education and counseling leading up to the student athlete coming aboard."

Alexander reportedly responded by saying, "Happy to chat," and provided her phone number to Hughes.

Alexander did not respond to a request to confirm whether or not the two had a conversation about the prospective transgender athlete.

About a month before the email in question, Alexander was named to the NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Committee. The position assists with selecting and seeding teams for the NCAA Women's Volleyball championships. On her X page, Alexander routinely shares "Juneteenth" celebrations and even shared a "Women in Sports Day" post in 2022 that did not appear to feature any transgender athletes.

Hughes is involved in professional development and sports medicine and is a member of the National Athletic Trainers' Association and the California Athletic Trainers' Association.

"It’s absolutely wild to watch two women in positions of power not just allowing this, but strategizing how to recruit men for women’s teams," said former NCAA swimmer Kaitlynn Wheeler. "What's happening here isn't inclusion … it's exploitation. It's not 'brave' or 'progressive' for two women in leadership positions to conspire behind the scenes about how to recruit a man for a women's team. It's cowardice."

The male athlete from SJSU received backing from his school throughout the 2024 season, particularly from his coach Todd Kress, who consistently blamed opposing teams for allegedly hateful remarks.

According to an SJSU assistant coach who was suspended after making public remarks, Kress even filed complaints against his own athletes for speaking out against the team's male player without using his preferred pronouns.

Kress also called the past season "one of the most difficult" he has experienced.

Blaze News reached out to Hughes regarding the content of the email and which athletics team she was thinking about bringing a transgender athlete onto. This article will be updated with any applicable responses.

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