EAST PRADOW, NY – A New York judge on Friday struck down a Long Island County order banning transgender female athletes after a local women’s roller derby league challenged it.
Judge Francis Ricigliano ruled that Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman did not have the authority to issue his February executive order denying park permits to any women’s and women’s teams, leagues or organizations that allow transgender athletes to participate.
He wrote in his 13-page ruling that Blakeman’s order was intended to prevent transgender women from participating in girls’ and women’s athletics in city parks, “despite there being no corresponding legislative enactment” giving him such authority.
“In doing so, this Court concludes that the County Executive acted beyond the scope of his authority as Chief Executive of Nassau County,” Ricigliano wrote.
Amanda Urena, president of the Long Island Roller Rebels, which challenged the order, said the ruling sends a “strong message” against discrimination.
“Today’s decision is a victory for those who believe that trans people have the right to play sports like everyone else,” Urena said in a statement. “County Executive Blakeman’s order tried to punish us just because we believe in inclusivity and stand against transphobia. Trans people belong everywhere, including sports, and will not be erased.”
The New York Civil Liberties Union, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of the league, said the decision overturned a harmful policy that attempted to “gain cheap political points by selling harmful stereotypes about transgender women and girls.”
Blakeman dismissed the judge’s decision as one that did not address the merits of the case. The decision does not delve into the civil rights arguments raised by both sides, focusing instead on limitations on the county’s executive powers.
“Unfortunately, girls and women are harmed by the court,” he wrote in an emailed statement.
Blakeman said the ban was intended to protect girls and women from harm if they were forced to compete against trans women.
It impacted more than 100 sports facilities in the densely populated county near New York City, including soccer fields, basketball and tennis courts, swimming pools and ice rinks.
But the roller derby league, in its lawsuit, argued that state human rights and civil rights statutes explicitly prohibit discrimination based on gender identity.
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 league filed suit after requesting a permit to host a series of games at skating rinks in several city parks this summer that have been used in previous years for practices and other events.
The Nassau County-based league, founded in 2005, said it welcomes “all transgender women, intersex women and gender-expansive women” and has at least one league member who would be prohibited from participating by county order.
A federal judge, in a separate court case, rejected Blakeman’s attempt to block the state attorney general’s office from taking action against the ban after it issued a cease and desist letter warning him that the order violated laws. state anti-discrimination.
LGBTQ+ advocates say bills banning trans youth from participating in sports have been passed in 24 states.
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