A bill to reintroduce the prohibition on transgender athletes playing women’s and girls’ sports at Nassau County-owned athletic facilities was adopted by the County Assembly on Monday and is expected to be signed soon by Executive Bruce Blakeman.
With the majority of Republicans voting in favor and most Democrats voting against, the bill passed 12-5 along party lines. Siela Bynoe and Delia DeRiggi Whitton, two Democrats, were not present during the vote.
The action is a result of a state Supreme Court judge’s ruling last month that Blakeman, a Republican, lacked the jurisdiction to enact such a restriction through an executive order without the consent of the legislature.
“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 stated.
Advocates of the prohibition claim that biological men who identify as transgender have unfair physical advantages over women in sports, while the New York Civil Liberties Union denounced the standard as “a hateful and blatantly illegal bill.” “If signed into law, we’ll see Nassau in court – again,” the group said.
