When Brooke Slusser Learned the Truth About Her Roommate

According to her parents, Brooke had heard rumors about a male athlete on the San Jose State women's volleyball team but didn't initially know what to believe.

Then, during a late-night food run with her roommates, Fleming told Brooke directly.

Kim and Paul recall that Brooke thanked Fleming for being honest but immediately made clear that she disagreed with a biological male competing on a women's team.

The revelation raised questions for the family about Brooke's privacy, her living arrangements and what university officials had known before she arrived.

When news about Fleming became public, the Slussers say the team was called into a meeting. Players hoped the university would address their concerns.

Instead, according to Kim and Paul, the message was to remain quiet.

Kim later contacted the head coach to discuss the situation. She recalls being told that Fleming would remain on the team and that she needed to change her thinking.

For the Slussers, that conversation marked a turning point.

The Cost of Speaking Out

Brooke eventually joined Gaines, et al. v. NCAA, a lawsuit involving former collegiate swimmer Riley Gaines and other female athletes. She also filed a separate lawsuit against San Jose State University, the Mountain West Conference and university personnel.

Her parents say Brooke initially believed other teammates might join her in speaking out. Although several supported her privately, none joined the lawsuit with her.

Many feared losing scholarships, playing time or future opportunities, Kim and Paul explain.

As the controversy grew, Brooke became increasingly isolated.

Her parents describe threats on campus, online harassment and a strained relationship with her coaching staff. They also recount an incident in which a university staff member began accompanying Brooke to practices and away games.

Kim and Paul say the stress took a serious toll on their daughter's well-being.

"We're proud of her," Paul says, reflecting on her determination to finish the season despite the pressure.

But pride didn't erase their fear. With Brooke in California and the family in Texas, they traveled to as many games as possible to support her.

How Texas Values Helped Brooke Find Support

When Brooke returned to Texas, her parents say she finally began to feel the encouragement she had been missing in California.

An important part of that support came from Texas Values.

The Slussers first connected with the organization through legal proceedings involving women's sports. Later, Brooke and Kim traveled to the Texas Capitol several times to testify about legislation addressing women's privacy throughout the legislative session. Texas Values arranged several meetings with lawmakers so they could hear the Slusser’s story, which was key to passing Texas Women’s Privacy Act in 2025. 

For Brooke, those opportunities meant more than participating in a policy discussion. Her parents say they gave her a chance to tell her story in her own words and meet people who took her concerns seriously.

Kim and Paul credit Texas Values with helping Brooke reach new audiences and connect with others working on women's sports issues.

Their experience also illustrates how Family Policy Alliance's network of state allies brings families, advocates and lawmakers together around issues affecting their communities.

Why Brooke's Story Matters Beyond Volleyball

For Kim and Paul, their daughter's experience raises a larger question: What happens when female athletes disagree with decisions made by the institutions responsible for their safety and opportunities?

Brooke's concerns involved more than competition. Her parents describe questions about shared housing, privacy, relationships with coaches and the ability to speak openly without fear of retaliation.

Those concerns connect directly to Family Policy Alliance's Save Girls' Sports initiative, which focuses on fairness, privacy and opportunities for female athletes.

The legal debate over women's sports has also reached the U.S. Supreme Court. Family Policy Alliance has covered the Supreme Court cases involving protections for female athletic teams.

Brooke's story offers a personal perspective on those broader questions, through the eyes of two parents who watched their daughter navigate them firsthand.

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What Human Trafficking Really Looks Like

Russo is a father of young children who worked on the House and Senate Judiciary Committees before joining CPAC. Once you learn about trafficking, he says, "you feel like you can't look away ever again."

Many Americans picture a TV drama, he says: a big-city crime or a stranger in a store parking lot. The reality is often simpler and harder to spot.

• Under federal law, trafficking is the use of force, fraud or coercion to trap someone in a life they would not otherwise be in, through sex trafficking or labor trafficking.
• It can start online, through social media or apps, or in person. Sometimes it happens within families.
• Traffickers look for vulnerabilities, and those exist everywhere: rural and urban communities, high-income and low-income families.

"It's unfortunately a business to them," Russo says. His advice is to take "see something, say something" seriously again, whether you're at an airport, a hotel or a community center.

Human Trafficking at the World Cup: What Happened in Atlanta

Big events create opportunities for criminals, Russo says. According to him, more than seven million fans attended games in the host cities this year, and he worked with Andrew Giuliani, executive director of the White House FIFA Task Force, on prevention efforts.

In Atlanta, state, local and federal partners joined forces. According to Russo:

• A bust made public the day of the interview led to more than 20 arrests and more than 50 people rescued.
• The effort ended with a volunteer event packing supplies for survivor homes across Georgia, with partners including Rotary International, major hotel chains and Delta.
• Some survivors came forward to say the work gave them hope.

"We said at Atlanta, there's going to be no home for traffickers here," Russo says, "and we made that come true."

Hear Russo describe what happened in Atlanta.

Protecting Children Online

Grace also asks about online child safety, which connects directly to Family Policy Alliance's Let Parents Parent initiative.

Russo, whose four-year-old uses a tablet better than he does, says policy should empower parents first. He points to the App Store Accountability Act, which would require age verification and give parents and law enforcement a way to hold tech companies accountable. "What could be more important than that?" he asks.

Hope in the Fight Against Human Trafficking

Russo calls himself a "happy warrior." "Trafficking thrives in darkness," he says, so the more people who are aware and willing to help, the more traffickers are exposed.

He points to recent wins, including the Take It Down Act and the Trafficking Survivors Relief Act, which he says gives survivors a path to clear criminal records tied to what traffickers forced them to do.

How to Help Fight Human Trafficking 

• Learn more through CPAC's Center for Combating Human Trafficking.
• Read up through groups like the National Center on Sexual Exploitation and Shared Hope International.
• Volunteer at a local survivor home or support your state's prosecuting task force.
• Ask your local, state and federal officials what they are doing about trafficking. "They have to have an answer," Russo says.

Watch the full conversation to hear Frank Russo explain what human trafficking really looks like, what happened during the World Cup and why he believes ordinary Americans can make a difference.

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It Started With One Question

When California schools stayed closed well past the point the rest of normal life had reopened, Shaw started asking why.

She eventually moved her own children into an in-person charter school. But she still wanted to understand what was happening inside the district she'd grown up in and graduated from.

She wasn't alone. Other parents were asking the same question, and together they started showing up to school board meetings, hoping someone would listen.

Instead, Shaw says, they were sidelined.

She remembers reaching a breaking point in one meeting: "We're gonna take the whole table," she told the board, after deciding she was done asking for a seat at it.

What started as a search for answers turned into a campaign. Shaw won her seat — and found out getting elected was only the beginning.

A Parental Rights Policy — and a Lawsuit Five Weeks Later

One of Shaw's first priorities as a new board member was a parental notification policy, requiring schools to tell parents if their child began identifying as a different sex at school.

She believed parents had a right to know about something that significant happening to their own kid.

The district was sued within five weeks.

Shaw also describes her role as a whistleblower in Mirabelli v. Olson, a case involving two Escondido-area teachers who challenged a district policy requiring staff to conceal a student's gender transition from their parents.

The legal battle later reached the U.S. Supreme Court in Mirabelli v. Bonta. Family Policy Alliance covered that development in A Big Win for California Parents, featuring California Family Council President Jonathan Keller.

For Shaw, these fights all come back to one question: who gets to make the decisions that shape a child's life — the parent, or the state?

It's the same question at the heart of Family Policy Alliance's Let Parents Parent campaign, which works to defend parents' rights in decisions affecting their children.

The Leadership Decision Nobody Expected

The most revealing part of Shaw's story has nothing to do with a courtroom.

After her board finally won a governing majority, the parents who'd helped elect her wanted the district superintendent gone. Shaw wanted that too, at first.

Instead, she says her faith stopped her.

Rather than push for his removal, she sat down with him and asked a different question: what had he wanted to accomplish that he'd never been supported to do?

That conversation changed everything.

Shaw spent the following year sitting in classrooms and training sessions, learning the job from the inside. The board ended up backing initiatives the same superintendent had tried and failed to move forward for years — with the same person still in the role.

It's the lesson Shaw says she wishes she'd understood before she ever took office: sometimes leadership means listening to the person you were ready to fire, not replacing them.

Why School Board Training Matters

Local school boards make decisions that shape students' daily lives.

Most candidates walk into the job with no background in school law, budgets or board procedure. Shaw says she learned all of it the hard way, in real time, while already in office.

DeRoche notes something worth sitting with: turnout in local school board elections can run as low as 7% or 8%.

A small number of engaged voters — or a single person willing to run — can change who's actually making these decisions.

DeRoche explored the importance of participating in these often-overlooked elections in Why Local Engagement Matters More Than Ever, highlighting why decisions made close to home deserve greater attention.

But showing up is only the beginning. As Shaw learned, serving effectively requires understanding how school boards operate and having the right resources when difficult decisions arise.

That's exactly why Family Policy Alliance created School Board Academy, the first national school board training program taught from a biblical worldview for pro-family conservatives.

The goal is to equip board members and candidates to honor God, protect children and preserve parents' rights — covering everything from governance and parliamentary procedure to curriculum oversight and model school policies.

The next live, online School Board Academy cohort begins October 20!

For a limited time, registration is just $29 (regularly $179) with discount code SBA-OCT26.

If you're serving on a school board or considering a run, this is an opportunity to get biblically based training to help you honor God, protect children and preserve parents' rights.

If you know someone serving on a school board or considering a run, encourage them to explore the training and resources available through School Board Academy.

What Should Schools Be Teaching?

For all the legal battles, Shaw says her actual priorities are simple: reading, writing and math.

She wants struggling students identified and supported before third grade, not quietly passed along without the skills they need.

She also names two more priorities that come up constantly in her work: keeping parents genuinely involved rather than shut out, and protecting girls' privacy and safety in sports and locker rooms.

Her concerns about female students connect to Family Policy Alliance's Save Girls' Sports campaign, which focuses on protecting fairness, safety and opportunities for girls and women in athletics.

But Shaw's larger point is that schools should be places where children learn, parents are respected and students are prepared for the future.

What Happens When Parents Show Up?

Shaw says teachers' unions spent nearly $6 million opposing her campaign for state superintendent.

She finished first in the primary anyway.

But she doesn't measure success only in election results. She points to parents who run for school board, knock on thousands of doors and lose — and still change their community simply by making their neighbors confront an issue they might never have thought about otherwise.

Her story started with a question about why the schools were still closed. It became a case study in what happens when a parent decides not to look away.

What might happen in your own district if more people did the same?

Watch the full conversation, and hear Sonja Shaw talk through the lawsuits, the surprising leadership decision and what she wishes she'd known before running for school board.

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What's Actually Happening in Schools Nationwide

Hermann describes a consistent pattern she sees across the country, in red states and blue states alike: a young girl, often in elementary school, encounters a biological boy in the restroom — sometimes a peer, sometimes an adult male on campus for maintenance or other work. When the girl objects or a parent calls the school, Hermann says families are frequently told their daughter simply has to accept it.

She points to one case her organization is currently handling out of Kansas, where a first-grade girl was told that if she wanted privacy, she would have to walk alone across the entire school campus to use a separate bathroom near the front office — a requirement Hermann notes conflicts directly with the school's own safety policies requiring young children to have a buddy anywhere else on campus. According to Hermann, the child, now in fifth grade, ultimately required mental health treatment because of the shame she experienced over simply wanting privacy.

Family Policy Alliance has also been raising concerns about the risks AI chatbots can pose to children, including bots engaging minors in inappropriate conversations and encouraging harmful behaviors.

What Parents Should Do When This Happens

Hermann is direct about the first legal steps parents should take. She recommends documenting everything in writing — starting with an email to the school requesting a meeting and asking directly what the school’s policy is. She also advises checking the school’s published policy immediately, noting that policies have a habit of disappearing from school websites once they’re questioned.

Beyond documentation, Hermann says parents can file complaints with their state (particularly in states with protective laws already in place) or with the U.S. Department of Education, and should consult an attorney. If a child was physically touched or exposed to another student inappropriately, she notes there may also be a criminal component to the situation, which falls outside what a civil legal organization like Southeastern Legal Foundation typically handles directly.

Hermann’s advice reflects a core message behind Family Policy Alliance’s Let Parents Parent campaign: parents have both the right and the responsibility to speak up when a school policy puts their child at risk, without waiting for permission to act.

The Nationwide Title IX Injunction — How Three Mothers Made It Happen

Hermann describes a case her organization brought during the Biden administration, after the Department of Education redefined "sex" under Title IX to include gender identity — a change that would have required every school in the country to allow biological males into girls' bathrooms, locker rooms, and sports. Working with Moms for Liberty, Southeastern Legal Foundation represented three mothers whose daughters were directly affected, including one who would have been forced to change into a swimsuit in front of boys for a mandatory high school swim class.

According to Hermann, the case moved from filing to a nationwide injunction blocking the rule in all 50 states in under six weeks — a result she attributes directly to those mothers' willingness to come forward and tell their stories in court.

This same fight over locker rooms, changing spaces and fair access for girls is central to Family Policy Alliance's Save Girls' Sports campaign, which works to protect girls' opportunities and safety in athletics nationwide. That work reached a major milestone this year when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld states' ability to protect female athletic teams based on biological sex under Title IX.

Why Policy and Legal Action Have to Work Together

Hermann argues that legal wins alone aren't enough without policy organizations pushing complementary legislation — and vice versa. Strong laws without enforcement in court have no teeth, she says, while legal victories can be undone if legislatures and agencies don't move policy in the same direction. She also points to the role legal and policy organizations play in simply educating parents on rights they may not know they have, so that wins on either side aren't quietly eroded.

Hermann also cites polling she says shows more than 80% of Americans agree that boys shouldn't be in girls' bathrooms — a majority she believes isn't being reflected in how many schools currently operate.

A Fight Hermann Calls Defining for This Generation

Hermann frames this issue in stark terms: as a civil rights fight, a free speech fight, and a religious liberty fight simultaneously. She says protecting children's privacy and dignity in these situations is the work she expects to be proudest of when she looks back on her career.

How to Get Help

Southeastern Legal Foundation represents families free of charge as a 501(c)(3) organization. If your family is encountering a similar situation, Hermann encourages parents not to wait or assume nothing can be done.

Learn more or reach out to Southeastern Legal Foundation at slfliberty.org.

Learn more about Family Policy Alliance and join us at familypolicyalliance.com.

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