By Hank Russell
Two weeks after implementing an executive order banning transgender girls from competing against biological girls, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman has filed a lawsuit against New York State Attorney General Letitia James, whose office recently sent a cease-and-desist letter to the county executive.
On February 22, Blakeman issued Executive Order #2-2024 “An Executive Order for Fairness for Women and Girls in Sports.” The order allows teams comprised only of biological females to participate in sporting events located at county property. It further orders the Nassau County Parks and Recreation Department to deny permits to women’s sporting events that allow teams to include biological males.
Blakeman said the purpose of this order is to provide “a supportive and safe environment” that is “maintained to foster and nurture these opportunities in sports for biological females” and emphasized “the designation of separate sex-specific athletic teams or sports is necessary to maintain fairness for women’s athletic opportunities.”
On X (formerly Twitter), Blakeman posted, “Nassau County will protect women and girls[‘] right to compete in sporting events in female leagues WITHOUT biological males bullying their way onto those teams.”
But many Democrats didn’t see it that way. Legislator Arnold Drucker (D-Plainview) urged Nassau residents to sign an online petition posted by the LGBTQ+ Network calling for the order to be rescinded. “As a proud and steadfast LGBTQ+ ally, I stand with the LGBT Network and the community in its outrage and resolve to see this hateful, unnecessary, and unlawful order overturned,” Drucker, the Legislature’s minority leader, said.
On March 1, James’ office sent Blakeman a cease-and-desist letter calling for him to rescind the executive order by March 8 or face legal action. “This executive order is transphobic and blatantly illegal,” James said in a statement. “Nassau County must immediately rescind the order, or we will not hesitate to take decisive legal action.”
Two days before James’ deadline — on March 6 — Blakeman filed a lawsuit against the OAG. “We feel we’re on the right side of this issue,” the county executive said during a press conference. “What the attorney general was asking us to do was a violation of federal constitutional law and federal statutory law. So our response was to file a lawsuit.”
Long Island Life & Politics polled readers on Blakeman’s executive order. The results, as of March 7, showed that 87.5% supported Blakeman’s position that only female athletes should compete against each other, while 12.5% thought the order was transphobic and discriminatory.