Judge strikes down NY county’s ban on female transgender athletes

EASTMEADOW, NY — A New York judge on Friday overturned Long Island’s ban on 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 women’s and girls’ teams, leagues or organizations that allow transgender female athletes to compete.

He wrote in his 13-page decision that Blakeman’s order was intended to prevent transgender women from participating in girls’ and women’s athletics at county parks, “despite no corresponding legislation existing” granting him such authority.

“In doing so, the court finds that the County Executive acted beyond his authority as Chief Executive Officer of Nassau County,” Ricigliano wrote.

Amanda Urena, president of the Long Island Roller Rebels, which challenged the order, said the decision sends a “strong message” against discrimination.

“Today’s decision is a victory for those who believe that transgender people have the right to participate in sports just like everyone else,” Urena said in a statement. “County Executive Blakeman’s order attempted to punish us just because we believe in inclusion and stand against transphobia. Transgender people belong everywhere, including sports, and they will not be erased.”

The New York Civil Liberties Union, which filed the lawsuit on the league’s behalf, said the decision overturned a harmful policy that sought to “score cheap political points by spreading 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 ruling does not address either side’s civil rights arguments, focusing instead on the limits on the provincial executive’s powers.

“Unfortunately, girls and women are being hurt by the courts,” he wrote in an emailed statement.

Blakeman had insisted the ban was intended to protect girls and women from harm if forced to compete with transgender women.

It affected more than a hundred sports facilities in the densely populated county next to New York City, including ball fields, basketball and tennis courts, swimming pools and ice skating rinks.

But the Roller Derby League argued in its lawsuit that the state’s human and civil rights statutes explicitly prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity.

The league’s lawsuit cited the state’s Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA), as well as guidance from the state Division of Human Rights, which affirms that public accommodations cannot deny transgender people access to programs and activities that are consistent with their gender identity.

The league has filed suit after applying for a permit to stage a series of competitions this summer on roller rinks at several provincial parks, which have been used for training and other events in recent years.

The Nassau County-based league, which was founded in 2005, said it welcomes “all transgender women, intersex women and gender-expansive women” and has at least one league member barred from competing by county order.

A federal judge, in a separate lawsuit, rejected Blakeman’s bid to block the attorney general’s office from taking action on the ban after it issued a cease and desist order warning that the order violated the state anti-discrimination laws.

LGBTQ+ advocates say 24 states have passed bills banning trans youth from participating in sports.