What to Know
- Lawmakers in a Long Island county passed a bill that bans all transgender athletes from participating in women's and girls' sports at county-run facilities.
- The Nassau County Legislature passed the legislation Monday evening by a vote of 12-5. When the vote was concluded, there was an outburst of people in the audience repeatedly shouting "shame"
- The bill came after County Executive Bruce Blakeman first enacted the ban as an executive order, which denied park permits to any women’s and girl’s teams, leagues or organizations that allow female transgender athletes to participate.
Lawmakers in a Long Island county passed a bill that bans all transgender athletes from participating in women's and girls' sports at county-run facilities.
The Nassau County Legislature passed the legislation Monday evening by a vote of 12-5. When the vote was concluded, there was an outburst of people in the audience repeatedly shouting "shame," an NBC New York reporter at the meeting said.
The bill came after County Executive Bruce Blakeman first enacted the ban as an executive order, which denied park permits to any women’s and girl’s teams, leagues or organizations that allow female transgender athletes to participate. Critics had slammed the order as blatant discrimination, but Blakeman maintained the ban was meant to protect girls and women from getting injured if they are forced to compete against transgender women.
It impacted more than 100 athletic facilities in the densely populated county next to New York City, including ballfields, basketball and tennis courts, swimming pools and ice rinks.
The New York State Supreme Court later knocked the executive order down after a local women’s roller derby league challenged it. In the lawsuit, the roller derby league — which has been around since 2005 and says it welcomes “all transgender women, intersex women, and gender-expansive women” — argued that the state’s human rights and civil rights statutes explicitly prohibit discrimination based on gender identity.
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The league’s lawsuit cited the state’s Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act, or GENDA, as well as guidance from the state Division of Human Rights, which confirms that public accommodations cannot deny transgender people access to programs and activities consistent with their gender identity.
The court ruled that such a ban would have to go through the county legislature, which it did on Monday.
LGBTQ+ advocates say bills banning trans youth from participating in sports have passed in 24 states.
Philip Marcelo of The Associated Press contributed to this report.
