The University of Wyoming volleyball team came out swinging. After their first two tournaments, the Cowgirls were 5-0. They built one 16 matches regular season, non-conference winning streak stretching back to 2023. Four weeks into the season, they entered Mountain West Conference play with a strong 8-3 record.

But forces beyond their control changed everything. On September 14, Southern Utah University canceled a scheduled game against San Jose State University after the news came that one of SJSU’s players was a biological male.

San Jose’s membership in the Mountain West Conference meant that the issue of male athletes in women’s sports burst into the Cowgirl world. As an 800-lb. gorilla, it broke through the front door and settled down on the couch.

These talented girls signed letters of intent to play UW volleyball. But suddenly and without warning they were in a game of full contact, smashmouth politics. Months of training in the basics of volleyball did not prepare them for this.

Even worse, no matter how well they could handle the gorilla on the sofa, a lick wouldn’t count against their goal on the court.

During regular seasons, write-ups about Cowgirls volleyball always put their current season record in the opening sentences. Now, full articles appeared that never even mentioned gains or losses.

Most readers already know that the Pokes have dropped two games to San Jose State. But it’s a good bet you wouldn’t be able to tell theirs overall recordor their rank in conference play. That should upset you.

The numbers that will go down in the record books are as detached from reality as the claims of Wokism itself. For the girls forced into this impossible situation, it’s reminiscent of the Covid cancellations that robbed countless athletes of their chance to step onto the field.

I mourn the girls. It’s not fair. We have failed them.

The world watches with bated breath to see how the girls will react to the gorilla in the room. But they shouldn’t have to answer at all. It’s not their job. That job belongs to others.

We employ security guards to ensure that non-players do not disrupt the game. We employ armed guards to keep violent threats out of the arena. We hire coaches to train the girls off the field and manage their game on the field. But none of these had the power to stop the awakened gorilla from stomping on his season.

The NCAA could have stopped it. The Mountain West Conference could have stopped it. Even the Wyoming Legislature could have stopped it. But they didn’t.

Late. Wendy Schuler (R-Evanston), a former Cowgirl herself—and a girls basketball coach, tried to stop it in 2022. She introduced SF 51 “Justice in female sports act” to prevent this very situation. It sailed through the Senate (24-5). But the speaker of the parliament sat on the bill and did not want to budge. Everyone knew that if it went to a vote, it would have passed easily. But no voting is allowed.

While SF 51 was fired in the Wyoming House, other states advanced the ball. South Carolina’s House did too Senate Bill 531, the “Save Women’s Sports Act”, As in Wyoming, it passed the Senate by a wide margin. But unlike Wyoming, their house got to hear it. After passing 70-33, it was signed into law.

That’s why the 800-lb. gorilla dominates the Cowgirls’ season, but the South Carolina girls play volleyball unimpeded.

Two of the organizations that could have prevented this circus, but didn’t, are being sued by the girls who have been injured. Brooke Slusser of San Jose State has sued the NCAA. She claims she was tricked into sharing a room with a man.

This week many players and coaches from several teams sued the Mountain West Conference for allowing this precarious and unfair situation.

Unfortunately, the girls can’t sue the lawmakers who left them vulnerable. What happened to their season cannot be undone. However, it should be prevented from ever happening again.

Last year, Wyoming passed laws to protect girls in elementary and high school. But refused to protect collegiate women. Now is the time for Wyoming lawmakers to pass what the House leadership killed in 2022.

The SJSU situation proved two things that should have been obvious. First, the security threats and injustices of biological males competing against males are not going to stay away from Wyoming because of some magic pixie dust. Second, it is not fair to ask our girls to lose game after game because we are not willing to make the court safe.

If the people with the power to protect the game won’t step up. Who wants to step onto the track anyway?

Jonathan Long is a Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod pastors in Evanston and Kemmerer and serves the Wyoming Pastors Network. Follow his blog at https://jonathanlange.substack.com/. Email: [email protected].