Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman said Thursday that transgender athletes are no longer allowed to compete in sports aligned with their gender identity at county-run facilities.
The executive order, touching more than 100 facilities, set off a storm of criticism from Democrats, including the state attorney general, who raised the threat of legal action.
Blakeman, a Republican, said the executive order prohibits organizations with trans athletes on their teams from participating in sports at county facilities, parks and ballfields.
The order is the first of its kind enacted by a local government, said Blakeman. He asserted at a ceremony in Mineola that the policy is meant to prevent a “movement for biological males to bully their way into competing in sports, or leagues or teams” meant for females.
“We find that unacceptable — it’s a form of bullying,” Blakeman said.
Gov. Hochul, a Democrat, fired back that Blakeman is the bully.
“There is nothing lower than trying to score cheap political points by putting a target on the backs of some of our state’s most vulnerable children,” Hochul said in a statement. “We’re proud New York has some of the nation’s strongest protections for the LGBTQ+ community, and my administration is committed to enforcing these laws.”
The order, which did not have to pass the county Legislature and took effect immediately, dictates that “any sports, leagues, organizations, teams, programs, or sports entities” must assign athletes to one of three categories based on their gender assigned at birth when applying for a permit to use Nassau County Parks property.
The categories are “males, men, or boys,” “females, women, or girls” or “coed or mixed, including both males and females,” which excludes transgender athletes.
The ban could violate New York State anti-bias laws, which bar discrimination from public accommodations on the basis of “gender identity or expression.”
Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement that her office was reviewing its legal options, describing the order “transphobic and deeply dangerous.”
“My office is charged with enforcing and upholding [anti-discrimination] laws, and we stand up to those who violate them and trespass on the rights of marginalized communities,” James added.
Blakeman’s announcement was also ridiculed by LGBTQ and legal rights advocates who vowed to fight back against the county executive’s “illegal” and “cynical” executive order.
“We will consider all options to stop it,” Bobby Hodgson, director of LGBTQ rights litigation with the New York Civil Liberties Union, told The News in an email.
The order is just an “attempt to shut trans people out of public spaces,” Hodgson said. “Requiring girls who are trans to compete on boys’ teams effectively bars them from sports altogether,” she said.
Here’s my statement on the illegal, divisive and hateful Executive Order announced today by Nassau Executive Bruce Blakeman. The @LGBTNetworkNY will not stop until every transgender person has the safety and equal access and participation in all aspects of their lives. pic.twitter.com/OfqLg4PXvY
— David Kilmnick (@DavidKilmnick) February 22, 2024
Dr. David Kilmnick, president and founder of the New York LGBT Network, a family of nonprofits serving the LGBTQ community of Long Island and Queens, said the “discriminatory move not only undermines the principles of inclusivity and fairness but also perpetuates harmful stereotypes and exclusion.”
Additionally, the order is “fundamentally flawed,” he said, noting New York State law “explicitly protects the rights of transgender individuals, ensuring their equal participation in all aspects of life, including sports.”
Signing his fifth executive order since taking office in January 2022, Blakeman maintained Thursday that the order was not discriminatory, but simply a matter of fairness.
“It is an unfair advantage for [a trans girl or woman] to compete against [a cisgender girl or woman],” he said in a speech filled with terms considered offensive to trans people, while surrounded by elementary school students holding pink signs that read “Protect women’s sports.”
The Republican congressman representing much of southern Nassau County, Rep. Anthony D’Esposito, voiced support for the order.
“Preserving women’s sports is just common sense,” D’Esposito said in a statement. “Every American deserves respect, but we can’t deny that there are differences between biological males and females.”
But Democrats charged that Blakeman was seeking to score political points at the expense of at-risk youth.
Assemblywoman Gina Sillitti, a Democrat who represents parts of Nassau County, said in a statement that Blakeman was not issuing the order to protect anyone, but instead to “grab headlines” that could lead to a “culture of hate toward transgender children.”
“Directing vitriol toward children should not and can never be tolerated,” she said.
The Nassau County Legislature’s Democratic minority leader, Delia DeRiggi-Whitton, asserted in a statement that the county executive was “legislating little leagues.”
“Nassau County residents were falsely promised tax cuts and a fairer property assessment system from this county executive,” she said in the withering statement. “Instead they received a county executive who has been more interested in self promotion by spending public money on private golf outings, swanky galas and unrelated press conferences.”
