A lesbian professor at a California university loudly proclaimed that she has had girlfriends with penises during a public meeting on Tuesday.
Jamie O’Quinn, an assistant sociology professor at Cal State San Bernardino, made the unusual declaration during a meeting of the California State University Board of Trustees.
She was responding to statements other speakers made in support of an enforcement action filed in January by the Department of Education against San Jose State University, which alleges that the university violated Title IX by allowing a transgender woman to compete on the women’s volleyball team.
At least eight people, ranging from concerned citizens to activists, expressed concern that San Jose State is not acquiescing to the federal government’s demand to separate sports and locker room facilities by sex.
O’Quinn was seemingly set off by one woman who said that lesbians ‘don’t have penises’.
‘I’m frustrated that I’m going to have to use my time today to talk about transphobia instead of the cuts that are impacting our students and our faculty every day,’ said O’Quinn, who describes herself as a feminist scholar-activist.
She continued: ‘It seems like there’s a bit of a misunderstanding that a lot of the folks calling in have about the difference between sex and gender. Uh, spoiler alert, both are socially constructed.’
‘Male and female are binaries on a spectrum,’ she said. ‘The idea that I have to get up here and say that trans women are women…is absurd. Shame on you. Shame on all of you. And shame on you for using lesbian politics as a front for your transphobia because this lesbian has had plenty of girlfriends with penises.’
Jamie O’Quinn, an assistant sociology professor at Cal State San Bernardino, said she ‘has had plenty of girlfriends with penises’ during a meeting of the California State University Board of Trustees
Her comments were triggered by at least eight individuals saying they supported the federal government going after San Jose State University for allowing transgender females to play in women’s sports. Blaire Fleming (pictured), who was born a male, was on San Jose’s female volleyball team during the 2023 season
Some attendees at the meeting were heard clapping during O’Quinn’s speech, particularly when she ‘shamed’ the people who testified in support of preserving women’s sports for biological women throughout the California State University system.
Mary Davis, a former San Jose State student, said she was disappointed that her alma mater ‘is no longer welcome to women’.
‘I’m here to support Title IX and state a basic truth that many people are afraid to say – males cannot become females. Everyone understands this in sports,’ Davis said.
Blaire Fleming, who was born a male, was on San Jose’s female volleyball team during the 2023 season.
Her presence on the team is partially what led the Trump administration to intervene. It also led former San Jose State volleyball captain Brooke Slusser – along with a host of players from different teams – to file her own lawsuit against the California State University system.
‘Because Blaire Fleming is male…has always been ineligible to participate or compete on the SJSU sex-separated women’s volleyball team in MWC competition,’ read a portion of the complaint, filed in November 2024.
Meg Madden spoke next at the meeting and condemned the California State University system for suing the Trump administration over this controversy and risking the loss of federal funding.
‘California adopted a definition of sex that includes gender identity, but the federal government has not and that is why CSU will lose,’ Madden said.
In addition to the Trump administration’s legal battle with San Jose State and the California State University system, former San Jose State volleyball captain Brooke Slusser filed her own lawsuit alleging discrimination
Because Title IX covers all federally funded education programs, the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights can enforce the law by withholding federal funds from institutions found in violation.
In practice, the Office for Civil Rights prefers to work with offending institutions before immediately resorting to snatching away millions of dollars in research grants, student financial aid and other programs.
But if after a protracted legal process, a judge finds in the Trump administration’s favor, the California State University system is indeed risking much of its federal funding.
For now, the California State University system is hoping that a court injunction will stop the White House from taking any sort of punitive action.
