Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman signed an executive order Thursday that bans transgender athletes from competing in certain county-run sports facilities, sparking outrage from LGBTQ+ advocates.
Blakeman specifically called out transgender women in the order stating that anyone who is a “biological male” will be banned from competing in any county-run sports facilities identified as women’s or girls’ sports. Critics argue that the order violates antidiscrimination laws.
“It’s very important to me as county executive that we set a tone and tenor of respect for all people,” Blakeman told reporters during a news conference in Mineola. “However, what we are finding out in the last few months is that there is a movement for biological males to bully their way into competing in sports. We find that unacceptable. It’s a form of bullying. We believe that women’s and girls’ teams should be women’s and girls’ teams.”
Blakeman added that transgender women will still be allowed to compete in men’s sports as well as co-ed sports, and this.
LGBT+ advocacy groups were quick to call out Blakeman for this, saying it is illegal and a violation of the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act.
“It’s a discriminatory move not only undermines the principles of inclusivity and fairness, but also perpetuates harmful stereotypes and exclusion,” David Kilmnick, president of the Garden City-based nonprofit LGBT Network, told the Press. “It’s also deeply alarming that Blakeman has chosen to align himself with extremist groups like the Loud Majority, who stood alongside Blakeman today in support of this ban. The Southern Poverty Law Center has identified loud majority as a threat to civil rights and social harmony. Their alignment with the county executive should be a wake up call.”
New York State Assemblywoman Gina Silitti (D-Manorhaven) criticized Blakeman’s executive order as well.
“Let’s be perfectly clear, Bruce Blakeman is not issuing this Executive Order to protect anyone,” Silitti said. “He is issuing an unnecessary executive order to grab headlines that I fear could lead to a culture of hate towards transgender children. Words matter.
“Far too often, hateful rhetoric leads to hateful action, as we just saw in Oklahoma, where a non-binary child was murdered,” she continued. “In recent years, we have seen repeated bigoted attacks on Long Island directed against the LGBTQ community and, luckily, our community has always rallied against it. Hate knows no boundaries, as we’ve seen right here in my district, when children were targeted, it was so vile that it elicited a bipartisan condemnation.”
