The Nassau County Council approved a bill Monday that would reinstate a ban on transgender athletes participating in women’s and girls’ sports at county-owned athletic facilities.
County Executive Bruce Blakeman is expected to sign the bill into law soon.
“I am pleased that the Republican majority voted in favor of this commonsense measure to protect fairness in women’s sports and the safety of female participants,” said Blakeman, a Republican.
The bill passed 12-5, with the Republican majority in favor and the Democrats opposed. The other two Democrats, Sheila Bynoe and Delia DeLighi Whitton, were absent.
This comes after a state Supreme Court justice ruled last month that Governor Blakeman lacked the authority to impose such a ban by executive order without approval from the Legislature.
“This is a hateful and patently illegal bill that, if passed, would put Nassau back in court,” the New York Civil Liberties Union said in a statement.
State Attorney General James has previously condemned such bans as “discriminatory,” “transphobic,” and “unlawful.”
But supporters of the ban argue that biological males who identify as transgender have an unfair physical advantage when competing with women.
Caitlyn Jenner, one of the world’s most famous transgender people, supports the ban for that reason.
The former athlete, whose real name is Bruce Jenner and who won a gold medal in the decathlon at the 1976 Olympics, appeared with Blakeman at a press conference in March.
“The differences between men and women are based on DNA, on chromosomes. There are huge benefits and undeniable differences to going through male development, essentially male puberty,” Jenner said.
“The solution is simple: when it comes to athletics, athletes must compete in the biological sex they were assigned at birth.”
