- Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman announced a ban on transgender athletes from participating in girls' sports at county-operated facilities
- The ban applies to all sports, including college sports, but does not apply to co-ed teams or cases where biological females want to play men's sports
- Blakeman said he is not aware of any policy in New York state that would overturn the order
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman announced a first-of-its-kind ban on transgender athletes participating in girls' sports at county-operated facilities.
The ban will prohibit transgender athletes from participating in girls' sports at county-operated facilities.
Blakeman said the executive order will take effect immediately and will apply only to competitive female sports, including at the collegiate level.
The ban does not apply to mixed sports or in cases where a biological female wants to compete against men.
“There is a movement for biological men to push their way into sports, leagues or teams that identify or promote themselves as girls or women,” Blakeman said.
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman announced a first-of-its-kind ban on transgender athletes participating in girls' sports at county-operated facilities
Blakeman said the executive order will take effect immediately and will apply only to female competitive sports
The ban does not apply to mixed sports or in cases where a biological female wants to compete against men
“It is a form of bullying.” “Biological men, whether they identify as transgender or not, have sports opportunities in which they can compete here in Nassau County.”
Blakeman officially announced the order at a news conference with female athletes and Kim Russell, the former lacrosse coach at Oberlin College in Ohio who has spoken out against transgender athletes.
“If a league or team identifies or advertises itself as a girls’ or women’s league or team, biological males should not participate in the competition,” he said.
“That doesn’t stop anyone from doing sports. Rather, it is about recognizing that there are women and girls who dedicate enormous amounts of time and effort to achieve excellence and compete in their sports, which are women's sports.”
The New York LGBT Network told WABC that the order was illegal.
“We are deeply disappointed by Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman’s announcement of an executive order aimed at banning transgender athletes from participating on sports teams consistent with their gender identity,” said Dr. David Kilmnick, president and founder of the group.
“This discriminatory move not only undermines the principles of inclusivity and fairness, but also perpetuates harmful stereotypes and exclusion.”
Blakeman officially announced the order at a news conference with female athletes and Kim Russell (pictured), the former lacrosse coach at Oberlin College in Ohio who spoke out against transgender athletes
Blakeman said he had been thinking about the order for months and that the ban was legal. “I don’t know of any policies in the state right now that would address this,” he said
Blakeman said he had been thinking about the order for months and that the ban was legal.
“I don’t know of any policies in the state right now that would address this,” he said.
“We know roughly how many people identify as transgender here in Nassau County … and we welcome them here in Nassau County to participate in sports and everything else we have to offer, just not on teams that identify as girls identify “team or women’s team.”
The county board cited incidents in which biological male athletes injured female players, but said it was not aware of any similar incidents in Nassau County.
“We are not aware of any incidents in Nassau County, but we wanted to stay ahead of the curve,” Blakeman said.
On February 8, a Massachusetts high school girls' basketball team was forced to forfeit its game after a transgender player on the opposing team injured three players.
The Collegiate Charter School of Lowell girls basketball team withdrew from the game against KIPP Massachusetts after one of KIPP's players, a biological male, injured three of their athletes.
Shocking video from the game shows the taller, bulkier transgender player ripping the ball out of another player's arms, causing her to fall.