Payton McNabb, Badly Hurt In High School By Trans Athlete, Nearly Has College Career Ruined By Another Trans
It happened in an instant. A volleyball off the fist of a biological male playing on a girl's high school volleyball team smacked Payton McNabb in the head with such force that the right side of her body was partially paralyzed.
McNabb, who was rendered unconscious by the hit, also suffered brain trauma.
"It was migraines every day and I couldn’t do certain things very well on my right side. And there was trouble with my memory. I had trouble in school," McNabb said in an exclusive interview with OutKick. "Things are better now, but I still get pretty bad headaches, and I can still be slow on my right side."
Even now, three years later, Payton McNabb, 19, still has serious physical issues and cognitive damage.
Many Americans are familiar with the volleyball part of McNabb’s story.
What many Americans aren’t familiar with is the rest of McNabb’s jaw-dropping tale in this very bizarre lane, that, quite frankly, shouldn’t even be a lane to begin with.
On A National Stage, McNabb Put A Name And Face On The Trans In Women's Sports Issue
McNabb sat as a guest last week in the box of First Lady Melania Trump during President Donald Trump’s Joint Congressional speech. Trump graciously honored McNabb and referenced the most widely reported part of her ordeal: a biological boy played in a girls’ sport and hurt a girl. Badly.
"What an incredible honor. I couldn’t even believe I got the opportunity to go," said McNabb, who also attended Trump’s signing of an executive order shortly after his inauguration to keep men out of women’s sports. "The fact that (Trump) made me a special guest, it was so surreal."
WASHINGTON, DC - Payton McNabb (C) and Second Lady Usha Vance (R) attend President Donald Trump's address to a joint session of Congress at the U.S. Capitol on March 4, 2025. (Photo by Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images)
McNabb knows all about the surreal.
You would think that the volleyball incident, for one person, would be enough of a connection to our strange new world of the transgender invasion into women’s sports and women’s spaces.
And yet somehow, poor Payton McNabb has been dealing with this alter-reality in ways that would make any clear-minded person outraged: a near expulsion from her university, a ban from a women’s organization that she cherished and proudly used to be a part of, and even hatred from "friends."
The unfortunate coincidences of McNabb being repeatedly subjected to this nonsense are not just uncanny, but stunning. It’s like lightning striking not once, but two and three times.
"I was just so angry and so upset that (the volleyball incident) happened to me," McNabb said. "I didn’t choose to get hurt. And I didn’t choose all of the rest of it either. And the fact that (the trans issue in women’s spaces) keeps affecting my life and taking away opportunities for me…it’s just so frustrating. I’ve felt violated in all kinds of different things."
Another Invasion Of A Women's Restroom
Brand new video surfaced last week of an unsettling incident that McNabb was involved in nearly a year ago at Western Carolina University.
The situation had been litigated for months via a panel of university officials until wrapping up just recently, which is why McNabb was silent for so long, but is finally able to come forward with details.
McNabb went into the women’s restroom in May of 2024 at the dining hall on the campus of Western Carolina University.
You probably already know where this is going…
A grown man, a biological man, was also in the bathroom. Dressed as a woman.
We can all understand why McNabb, of all people, might be unnerved by that.
Positioned, not by choice but by circumstance, squarely in the middle of this trans-in-women’s-spaces conflict, McNabb knew she couldn’t just look the other way.
"I see this fully grown man in a dress and I just froze," McNabb said. "I felt so uncomfortable. I was thinking, ‘We always have field trips that come through here. We always have little kids who come in and out of this bathroom. I just couldn’t believe this was allowed, and was happening to me.
"Then I felt like, I didn’t want to be a hypocrite because I advocate for women and girls to stand up and say no to things like this, and to not act like this is OK.
"I wasn’t just going to smile at him and leave the bathroom. This was crazy to me. I don’t know…maybe it was something that just triggered. Maybe I had some kind of PTSD from it or something…"
The volleyball court…
The rifled volleyball shot at her head…
The injuries…
Yes, PTSD probably came into play.
Determined to stand up for herself and for all women, but worried about her safety in the event her words were not well-received, McNabb grabbed her phone and hit record on her camera. And she confronted the person in a dress in front of her.
She was calm and measured, and, in fairness, so was the other person. But the interaction was definitely awkward and tense.
McNabb asked why the person was in the women’s restroom. She told the person that she pays a lot of money to be safe in the women’s restroom. She then asked if the person thought this situation was OK.
Here is their interaction:
Shortly thereafter, McNabb then posted the video on Twitter.
What came next was a whirlwind of the unimaginable.
Not Once, Not Twice, Three Times Betrayed
McNabb was called by the university the very next day. She was called by the national office of her sorority, Delta Zeta, the next day as well.
Three days after that, she was suspended by her sorority for "bullying," and a couple of weeks later, after multiple meetings with the sorority’s national governing body, McNabb’s membership was terminated.
The insanity of the Delta Zeta madness still makes McNabb shake her head in disbelief.
An organization for women stood up for a man over a woman, a woman who happened to be a member of the organization and did nothing but calmly advocate for a private space for women in which she felt safe and comfortable.
What a "sisterhood." Ya, what a crock.
Usually, it's fun to be part of a sisterhood! (Getty Images)
"I could not believe it," McNabb said. "This was about some random guy. It had nothing to do with the sorority at all. But they kick me out on the basis of bullying and making them look bad. I don’t understand why that makes you (the sorority) look bad when they should be all about empowering women. It makes no sense."
McNabb said that it wasn’t just the national governing body that turned on her. Some of her own sorority sisters on campus shunned her.
"Not all of them," McNabb said. "Many were on my side. But there are a lot of them who just hated, really hated, everything I was doing. They were totally dismissive of me and what happened to me. It was insane. I can’t understand it."
Buckle up, it gets worse.
A Title IX Violation? What A Sucker Punch, And The Irony Of All Ironies
While dealing with the lunacy coming from her sorority’s leadership, McNabb took even more incoming. This time from that person in the restroom.
"He was trying to get me expelled from school," McNabb, said of the biological male, a student at the school who she said is in his late 20s. "All of a sudden, I’m in a civil rights battle for simply asking to have a women’s restroom for women."
McNabb was accused of – how about this for adding insult to injury -- a Title IX violation (Title IX is meant to protect women) and sexual harassment by the person from the restroom.
She had to hire a legal team to represent her in meetings with a collection of representatives from the school to make a case for why she did not violate Title IX and for why she should not be expelled.
Western Carolina University campus. (Photo by: Ken Welsh/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
The back and forth of this case went on for nine painful months.
McNabb, who took the past semester off and is now looking to transfer elsewhere, just recently learned that she won the case.
She had been silent about the case, as well as about her sorority troubles, until late last week.
But now the gloves are off, and McNabb is anxious to tell her story, and to continue to advocate for this cause that she did not choose, but that chose her.
"Because I took the semester off, I’ve been able to travel and advocate for these issues," McNabb said. "I’m definitely not going anywhere because this issue is very far from over. I’ll see where this goes."
Finding The Silver Lining…And A Calling
McNabb thinks that Turning Point USA would be a good destination for her. After her disturbing experiences in college, she would like to try to have a meaningful impact on kids in that age group.
Conservative political activist Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point Action, speaks during a meeting on the campus of the University of Arizona in Tucson on October 17, 2024. Charlie Kirk's Turning Point Action, a conservative campaign group, worked hard to get Donald Trump elected, and hired thousands of canvassers to get out the vote. (Photo by OLIVIER TOURON/AFP via Getty Images)
"The colleges…they are so indoctrinated," McNabb said. "I thought the school I went to would be the best option for me in my state, the least likely to have all of that (indoctrination).
"But it was just as bad, if not worse, than a lot of other places I’ve heard about. I was in a media class and my first day, the teacher told us we all had to come in with a news (article) every day, but the only rule was that we couldn’t use Fox News. Just right out of the gate. That was literally a quote by her. I couldn’t believe that was happening. But that kind of stuff is happening all over colleges, and they don’t even try to hide it."
Disgusting…On So Many Levels
The Democrats, during last week’s congressional speech, certainly didn’t try to hide their disdain for President Trump or his guests, including McNabb.
WASHINGTON, DC - Democrats protest with signs (Medicaid, Musk) as President Donald Trump addresses a joint session of Congress in the Capitol building's House chamber on March 4, 2025. (Photo by Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Bitter, angry and classless, the Democrats couldn’t stand or even muster a smile for any of the inspirational stories that were told, or the everyday Americans who were honored.
When McNabb was mentioned by the President of the United States and stood and waved to the crowd, she saw the sitting, tone-deaf Democrats looking insufferable. But she was determined not to waste more than a glance on them.
Payton McNabb (C), a former high school athlete who was injured by a volleyball spike from a trans woman on the opposing team, is recognized by President Donald Trump as he speaks during an address to a joint session of Congress at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on March 4, 2025. (Photo by JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)
"It just reminded me of how much of a failure they’ve been," McNabb said of the Democrats. "How can you work to actively erase women every day? You didn’t stand for the two women who were raped and killed by illegal aliens. How do you not stand for that but you gaslight and say that you care about women, that you’re the party of women?
"Actions speak louder than words, and they’ve embarrassed themselves so many times. I really don’t understand how people are believing it."
Few people do believe the Dems anymore.
Democrats are being destroyed, in particular on the trans in women’s sports issue. It’s an 80-20 issue, with 80 percent of the country supporting women like McNabb, who want to keep boys and men out of girls' and women’s sports.
"(Democrats) were trying to use theatrics to take away from the night," McNabb said. "It was disgusting and that was their goal. But you can’t deny the energy that was there. It was a great moment. They didn’t ruin my moment."
Past, Present, Never Again
Unfortunately, the trans volleyball player ruined McNabb’s athletic future.
Hurt during the first week of the high school volleyball season, McNabb never played volleyball again.
A three-sport athlete, she had recovered enough to participate (kind of) in the basketball and softball seasons.
"But I was never the same. At all," said McNabb, who had a legitimate shot of playing softball in college before the volleyball incident stripped that from her. "I definitely couldn’t perform the way I used to. I was just different. My teammates knew it, the other teams knew it. Even the refs would stop games if I fell down or something, because I didn’t always have my balance. It was never the same for me."
McNabb is determined to make sure other girls and women never have to experience what she did.
She’s committed. For however long it takes.
"I’m doing my best to fight all of these big, important things," McNabb said. "It’s definitely not easy, but it’s been worth it. We’ve come a long way from where we were when it first started. I keep saying that maybe the Lord has a plan for my story, so I’ll see where it goes.
"I think I’m going to continue to work on this…until I no longer need to."