Amr Alfiqi/Reuters/File
This photo from May 2023 shows a person holding a transgender pride flag and flowers during the Black Trans Liberation Movement in New York.
CNN
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A New York state judge has invalidated an executive order banning transgender athletes from participating in girls' or women's sports leagues or teams at a Nassau County facility on Long Island.
Nassau County Supreme Court Justice Francis Ricigliano ruled Friday that Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman lacked the authority to issue such an order, according to a court filing.
“In doing so, this court finds that the county executive acted in excess of its authority as chief executive officer of Nassau County,” the ruling said.
Mr. Ricigliano ruled that Mr. Blakeman could not act without response action by the Nassau County Legislature. It includes a representative from each of the county's 19 districts.
Civil rights groups praised the court's decision as striking down a harmful policy. But the justices did not rule on whether the order violated state civil or human rights law, instead ruling on technical questions of authority.
CNN has reached out to Blakeman's office for comment, but has not received a response.
He told The New York Times on Saturday that he plans to appeal. “This is a lack of courage on the part of the judge who doesn't want to decide the case on its merits,” the official told CNN affiliate News 12. Unfortunately, girls and women are being harmed by the courts. ”
CNN previously reported that the executive order would prohibit transgender girls from playing in sports leagues or teams that promote girls' or women's leagues or teams if they use county facilities. Ta.
The executive order, which Blakeman said would allow transgender athletes to compete in Nassau County's men's or coed leagues, immediately drew criticism from LGBTQ+ rights groups and state officials. This caused a backlash.
According to news reports, the New York Civil Liberties Union, on behalf of the Long Island Roller Rebels, a women's flat track roller derby league in Nassau County, said in March that the executive order violates New York state human rights and civil rights laws. The lawsuit is said to have been filed. Release from NYCLU.
According to the New York State Department of Human Rights, the state's human rights law was amended in 2019 to include gender identity and expression, including transgender, as protected classes.
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman announced the executive order on February 22, 2024.
Roller derby leagues that include transgender women have been barred from accessing facilities in Nassau County by executive order, according to a statement from the NYCLU.
“We are pleased that the court struck down a harmful policy that has been consigned to the dustbin of history,” Gabriela Larios, staff attorney for the United New York Citizens, said in a statement. “This ruling deals a significant blow to County Executive Blakeman's attempt to score cheap political points by promoting harmful stereotypes about transgender women and girls.”
The issue of finding a balance between inclusion and fair play has remained a struggle for regulatory bodies overseeing high-level sport over the past few years, and its effects have affected recreational sport at the local level.
Blakeman explained his reasons for issuing the executive order earlier this year.
“This is just science, and it is common sense and obvious that biological males are generally bigger, faster, and stronger than female participants. “I didn't feel the need to ban it,” he said.
A 2017 report in the journal Sports Medicine that reviewed several related studies found that there is “no direct or consistent research” that transgender people have an athletic advantage over their cisgender peers. CNN previously reported that critics say the ban further increases the discrimination faced by transgender people.
New York Attorney General Letitia James called the decision a “huge victory” in a post Friday. on X. In February, James denounced the executive order as “transphobic and extremely dangerous” in his statement, CNN previously reported.
“In New York, it is illegal to discriminate against someone based on their gender identity or expression,” James wrote to X.
CNN's Ashley R. Williams and Eric Levenson contributed to this report.
