The Woke Women’s Roller Derby League not only welcomes biological men who identify as women, but is suing leaders in Nassau County, New York, over restrictions on teams featuring transgender women.
What are the details?
The Long Island Roller Rebels, an amateur league that has been around for about 20 years, announced the February ban on county parks and stadiums aimed at banning women’s leagues, women’s leagues, and teams with transgender players from using county-run parks and stadiums. He is suing Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman over the executive order.of Associated Press reported.
The order affects more than 100 public facilities in the county of about 1.4 million people just east of Queens, according to the Associated Press.
The New York Civil Liberties Union supports the league’s lawsuit, the newspaper added.
“The whole point of the Derby is for people to feel welcome,” said Amanda Urena, 32, the league’s vice president who competes as “Curly Fry” and identifies as queer. He told The Associated Press at practice. United Skates of America in Seaford. “We want trans women to know that we want you to come and play with us. We will continue to fight and create safe spaces for you. We will do our best to make sure there is.”
Details from the outlet:
Sports leagues and teams seeking permission to play or practice at county-run parks would be required to disclose whether they have or allow transgender women or girls. Organizations that allow them to play will be denied permission, but men’s leagues and teams will not be affected. […]
This month, the Roller Rebels sought permission from the county to hold practices and games at county-owned rinks next season, as they have in previous years. But they expect they will be turned away because the organization is open to anyone who identifies as female and already has one transgender player on its roster.
New York State Attorney General Letitia James requested the county revoke banThe Associated Press said it violated the state’s anti-discrimination laws, and Blakeman added: asked a federal judge. To protect it.
“We protect girls’ rights to compete against other girls,” Blakeman said in February. “It makes no sense for biological boys who identify as transgender to compete against girls. It’s completely unfair. Biological boys are faster, bigger and stronger. It’s a physical advantage.”
“There is a possibility of injury.”
Associated Press points to 2022 Washington poll after University of Maryland They found that 55% of Americans oppose trans women and girls competing against other women and girls in high school sports, and 58% oppose it in college and professional sports as well.
Trinity Reed, 21, a lacrosse player at Hofstra University in Nassau County, told the magazine: [a woman] If you play against a transgender female athlete, you’re going to get hurt.”
Mia Babino, 18, who plays field hockey at the State University of New York at Cortland and plans to transfer to Molloy College in Nassau County, also supports the ban, The Associated Press said. And he’s going to play at the college level. ”
Image source: YouTube screenshot
“You should have a safe place.”
The paper noted that roller derby has been a “heaven” for LGBTQ people for decades.
“I come here and say, ‘I’m a trans woman.’ I’m a non-binary person. I’m genderqueer.” Got it? “The world is scary enough. You need a safe place,” Caitlin Carroll, a roller leveler competing as “Catastrophic Danger,” told The Associated Press.
Image source: YouTube screenshot
Grace McKenzie, a 30-year-old transgender woman who plays on the New York Rugby Club’s women’s team, told the paper that the people who will suffer most from the county’s ban are children who are still coming to terms with their gender identity. added to.
“The only word I can use to describe this situation is brutal,” McKenzie told The Associated Press. “Kids that age are using sports to build relationships, build friendships, and develop teamwork skills and leadership skills, which, frankly, they’re already facing as a transgender kid. It only helps us protect ourselves from all kinds of hate.”
Emily Santos, 48, a transgender woman from Long Island who wants to join the women’s softball team, told the magazine that the ban is “a solution in search of a problem. “It’s not our children. We’re the ones being bullied.” I was bullied. ”
Roller derby league challenges ban on transgender women in sportsyoutube.be
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