A county in Long Island, New York, has restricted access to more than 100 facilities to athletic organizations that allow transgender girls and women to compete on teams that match their gender identity, and has restricted access to more than 100 facilities that allow transgender girls and women to compete on teams that match their gender identity. It's trying to secure its place in the national conversation about how to compete. Participate in women's sports.
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, a Republican, said Thursday that sports leagues and organizations that want to use the county Parks Department's facilities can designate their teams as either men's, women's or coed based on membership assignments. signed an executive order mandating “explicit designation.” Sex at birth.
This policy is effective immediately and does not require legislative approval. The governor, the New York state attorney general, and the American Civil Liberties Union's New York chapter have called the ban illegal and indicated that legal action may be imminent.
The move is the latest in a series of efforts by authorities across the country to ban transgender athletes from competing on teams that match their gender identity, particularly in girls' and women's sports. In recent years, more than 20 states have passed laws restricting transgender athletes from participating in school sports on teams that differ from their birth gender, according to ESPN.
And last year, the Republican-controlled House approved a bill that would ban transgender women and girls from participating in women's sports. There is no chance the bill will pass the Democratic-controlled Senate or be signed by President Biden.
Blakeman's office said the executive action signed Thursday does not restrict transgender boys or men from competing on men's teams or men's teams, but does not restrict transgender boys or men from competing on men's teams or any men's team that competes at Nassau County facilities. The level will affect thousands of teams.
Last year, the Big East Conference, home to 11 collegiate athletics programs, held swimming championships in the county. A Big East spokesperson said this year's championship will be held in Indianapolis and no decisions have been made regarding future events.
There was immediate backlash against this order.
“This discriminatory move not only undermines principles of inclusion and equity, but also perpetuates harmful stereotypes and exclusion,” said David, president of the Long Island and Queens-based nonprofit LGBT Network.・Kilmnick said.
“New York state law clearly protects the rights of transgender individuals and guarantees their equal participation in all aspects of life, including sports,” he added. “Attempts to enforce such a ban would be futile and legally untenable.”
Gov. Cathy Hochul accused Blakeman of “bullying transgender kids” in a statement to the New York Times on Thursday.
“There is nothing more despicable than trying to score cheap political points by targeting the backs of our state’s most vulnerable children,” she said. “We are proud that New York has some of the strongest protections in the nation for the LGBTQ+ community, and my administration is committed to enforcing these laws.”
New York Attorney General Letitia James called the order “transphobic” and “extremely dangerous.” Bobby Hodgson, director of LGBTQ rights litigation at the ACLU's New York chapter, said in a statement that the ACLU “will consider all options to block the lawsuit.”
Jamie Taylor, a political science professor at the University of Toledo and an expert on LGBT politics, said in an interview that Blakeman signed the order in disregard of both state law and precedent set by the state Supreme Court.
According to the New York Human Rights Law, gender identity and expression are protected classes in “all jurisdictions, including employment, public accommodations, public and private housing, educational institutions, and credit.” Taylor said county sports facilities would be considered places of public accommodation.
“This is a broader attempt by Republican lawmakers nationally to focus on transgender rights issues during the campaign,” Taylor said. “This is really just a culture war issue where they feel they have an advantage.”
In 1977, the New York State Supreme Court ruled in Richards v. United States Tennis Association that Renee Richards, one of the first openly transgender professional athletes, could compete in the women's draw for the U.S. Open. , rejecting the Tennis Association's request against Richards. She passes the sex chromatin test.
New York State's Gender Identity Protection Guidelines state that “As early as 1977, New York established that a sex discrimination claim under the Human Rights Act could be brought by an individual alleging discrimination on the basis of gender identity.'' It has been recognized by the courts.”
Rep. Gina Schillitti, a Democrat who represents part of Nassau County, said Mr. Blakeman signed the order to score political points.
“He's issuing unnecessary executive orders to grab headlines, and I'm concerned that it will lead to a culture of hate against transgender children,” Silitti said. “Words matter. Too often, hateful rhetoric leads to hateful actions.”
The executive order comes as threats and harassment of transgender and non-binary people, especially children, continues to rise, and bans on athletic activities and bathroom use continue to draw attention.
Nex Benedict, a 16-year-old who used they/them pronouns, died this week after a confrontation in the girls' bathroom at a high school in a small Oklahoma town outside Tulsa.
Earlier this month in Utah, the school district had to request police protection for a high school basketball player who claimed a school board member was transgender.
Blakeman is a longtime figure in Long Island politics who strongly opposes mask mandates that have angered suburban parents and businesses, as well as focusing on crime and bail reform. He ran a campaign and was elected to the county executive position in 2021.
His victory, part of a wave of Republican victories in Nassau that fall, elevated Blakeman to the status of a hero in the state's Republican Party, and his defiant appearance on Fox News only added to that reputation. Became.
But with a population of about 1.4 million people, more registered Democrats than registered Republicans, and nearly 300,000 independent voters, Nassau is far from a monolithic Republican stronghold.
That moderate nature was demonstrated last week when Democrat Tom Suozzi won a special election for the 3rd Congressional District, which is dominated by Nassau County.
In addition to Blakeman at Thursday's press conference, Kim Russell, the former women's lacrosse coach at Oberlin College in Ohio who was fired from her position after publicly criticizing the inclusion of transgender women in women's sports, also spoke at Thursday's press conference. I was present.
The speakers stood at a podium flanked by elementary school girls holding placards that read “Protect Women's Sports.''
“I'm here first and foremost to support all of the young girls here,” said Russell, who does not live in Nassau County. “Without the ability to compete on a gender-based basis, these young girls may be missing out on opportunities.”
When asked at a news conference how many transgender athletes compete in Nassau County, Blakeman said he didn't know. He said, without citing sources, that less than 1 percent of county residents identify as transgender and that he doubts how many, if any, compete at county facilities. He said he didn't know if there were any.
Instead, in his remarks, he referenced transgender girls playing on women's teams outside of New York state, saying, “We want to be ahead of the curve here in Nassau County.”
After Blakeman signed the order, a small group of protesters gathered outside the courthouse and Capitol building where the news conference was held, chanting, “Transgender kids are our kids.”
Juli Gray Owens, executive director of Gender Equality New York, a group that participated in the protest, said there are about 17,000 transgender people in Nassau and Suffolk counties, which have a combined population of about 2.9 million people. Ta.
The bigger question is how many transgender athletes are participating in local women's and girls' sports, Gray-Owens said.
“Every time I ask that question, they don't give me an answer,” she says. “Because they have a solution looking for a problem.”
jesse mckinley Contributed to the report.
