Nassau County Lawmakers Pass Transgender Athlete Ban

A county legislature outside New York City has voted to ban transgender female athletes from playing on girls’ and women’s teams at county-owned facilities after an attempt to restrict transgender athletes by executive order was rejected by the court.

The Republican-controlled Nassau County Legislature voted 12-5 Monday to ban trans athletes from playing at county-owned facilities unless they compete on teams corresponding to their gender. was assigned at birth or in mixed teams.

The move follows Republican County Executive Bruce Blakeman’s Feb. 22 executive order attempting to enact a similar ban.

A judge ruled in May that Blakeman issued his order “despite the absence of corresponding legislation” granting him such power. Blakeman is now expected to sign the bill.

The New York Times reports that transgender rights advocates filled Monday’s meeting with signs reading “trans women are women.”

Republican lawmaker John. R. Ferretti Jr. said the bill did not ban transgender people since transgender women could still compete, only in men’s or mixed leagues.

Audience members chanted “lies!” »

Blakeman had said his earlier ban was intended to protect girls and women from injury when competing against transgender women. It would have affected more than 100 sports facilities in Long Island County, near New York.

Blakeman’s executive order was challenged by state Attorney General Letitia James, who issued a cease-and-desist letter, and by a women’s roller derby league, the Long Island Roller Rebels, who filed a lawsuit. legal action for this ban.

The New York Civil Liberties Union, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of the roller derby league, said after Monday’s vote: “This is a hateful and blatantly illegal bill. If signed into law, we will see Nassau back in court – again.”

The vote fell along party lines, with two of the legislature’s seven Democrats absent.

Newsday reports that Democratic lawmaker Arnold Drucker said the bill was “in clear violation of state law,” adding, “I don’t understand why this county executive wants to continue to waste hard-earned money by taxpayers in legal costs to defend this law. »