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County Executive Bruce Blakeman announced the executive order, which will go into effect immediately, at a press conference on Thursday, Feb. 22.
The order applies only to female competitive sports, not co-ed or male sports. It will prevent transgender women from participating in women’s sports at all county-run facilities.
"This is not precluding anybody from participating in sports," said Blakeman. "What it is, it's identifying that there are women and girls who spend a tremendous amount of time and effort to excel and compete in their sports that are women's sports.”
Further calling the allowing of transgender women in women’s sports “bullying,” Blakeman said that “it’s a situation of fairness…it is an unfair advantage for someone who is a biological male to compete against a biological female."
He was joined by District 18 Legislator Samantha Goetz and Kim Russell, a former women's lacrosse coach at Ohio's Oberlin College who said she was terminated after speaking out against transgender athletes participating in women's sports.
New York LGBT Network President Dr. David Kilmnick condemned the move in a statement released shortly after the announcement.
“We are profoundly disappointed in Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman’s announcement of an executive order aimed at banning transgender athletes from participating in sports teams that align with their gender identity.”
Calling the order “deeply alarming,” Kilmnick said that it “not only undermines the principles of inclusivity and fairness but also perpetuates harmful stereotypes and exclusion.”
Blakeman said he did not know how many transgender athletes there are in Nassau County, but cited that between half a percent and one percent of all residents in the county identify as transgender.
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