The Nassau County County legislature approved a measure Monday to reinstate a ban on transgender athletes from participating in women and girls’ sports at county-owned athletic facilities.
County Executive Bruce Blakeman will soon sign the legislation into law.
“I am gratified that the Republican Majority in the legislature voted in favor of this common sense measure to protect the integrity of women’s sports and the safety of women participants,” Blakeman, a Republican, said.
The measure passed along party lines 12-5 with the Republican majority voting in favor and Democrats against it. Two other Democrats — Siela Bynoe and Delia DeRiggi Whitton — were absent.
It comes after a state Supreme Court judge ruled last month that Blakeman didn’t have the authority to impose such a prohibition via executive order, and without the legislature’s approval.
“This is a hateful and blatantly illegal bill. If signed into law, we’ll see Nassau in court – again,” the New York Civil Liberties Union said in a statement.
State Attorney General James also previously slammed such a ban as “discriminatory,” “transphobic” and “illegal.”
But supporters of the ban say biological men who identify as transgender have unfair physical advantages while competing against women
One of the world’s most famous transgender persons — Caitlyn Jenner — supports the ban for that reason.
The former athlete, né Bruce Jenner, who won the gold medal in the decathlon at the 1976 Olympics, appeared alongside Blakeman at a March press conference.
“The difference between men and women exists based on DNA, or your chromosomes…there are massive advantages and undeniable differences from male development, basically going through male puberty,” Jenner said.
“The solution is simple: when it comes to athletics… you have to compete in the biological sex in which you were born.”
