State Attorney General Letitia James filed a lawsuit Monday to block a newly-signed Nassau County law that bans transgender athletes from participating in women’s and girls’ sports at county-owned athletic facilities.
The AG’s office filed the lawsuit after Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman signed the transgender ban law passed by the local Republican-led legislature last month.
Blakeman, a Republican, initially sought to ban biological males who identify as women from participating in women’s sports through executive order—but a lawsuit filed by the New York Civil Liberties Union on behalf of the Long Island Roller Rebels After this order was rejected in the court. ,
Democrat James is entering a second round of legal battle against the transgender ban, joining the NYCLU, which has filed a separate lawsuit challenging the law in Nassau County Supreme Court.
During a press conference on Monday, Blakeman said it is unfair for trans women and girls to compete against biological women, given scientific evidence that overall biological men are stronger, bigger and faster than women.
“We are protecting the integrity, fairness and safety of women’s sports. It’s a matter of common sense,” he said.
He also said that one of the world’s most famous transgender people – Caitlyn Jenner – supports the ban.
Former athlete, Bruce Jenner, won a 1976 gold medal for the decathlon and famously appeared on the cover of a Wheaties cereal box.
“She stood here with us and said, ‘You’re doing the right thing,'” Blakeman said of Jenner.
But James claimed the Nassau ban violates New York laws prohibiting discrimination based on a resident’s gender identity or expression.
“With this legislation, Nassau County is once again attempting to exclude transgender girls and women from participating in sporting events while claiming to support fairness,” James said in a statement accompanying the lawsuit.
“NYCLU and Long Island Roller Rebels won their first lawsuit and County Executive Blakeman’s transphobic executive order was struck down because it was clearly illegal. Now this should also be a discriminatory law,” she said. “Here in New York, every person has the right to be who they are without discrimination, and my office will always protect that right.”
NYCLU staff attorney Gabriella Lareau said Nassau County’s “relentless efforts to exclude transgender women and girls from sports” will leave a permanent stain on elected officials.
“It is absolutely clear that any effort to ban trans women and girls from sports is prohibited by our state’s anti-discrimination laws. This was true when we successfully ended County Executive Blakeman’s transphobic policy, and it’s true now. This latest round of hate legislation is unacceptable and we will not let it stand in New York,” Lareau said in announcing the group’s own lawsuit against the ban.
The legal fight in Nassau is a microcosm of the debate over transgender athletes competing against women playing across the country — in which conservatives support bans and liberals oppose them.
Blakeman said Monday that he has not heard any opposition on the ground from the LGBT community in Nassau. He said he has heard particularly from gay athletes who support the ban.
“There are some people out there with a narrow view who say this is an anti-transgender bill – and it’s not,” he said.
A Sienna College poll released in April found that 66% of voters in New York support a ban on transgender athletes competing against girls, while only 27% of respondents supported “high school athletes competing only against others of the same sex.” The need to compete with”. Assigned at birth.”
Strong support for prohibition crossed party, racial, ethnic and regional boundaries. Only voters describing themselves as “liberal” opposed the ban.
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