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By now, you’ve probably seen the video clip of a male high school basketball player in Massachusetts who identifies as female, shoving a female player to the court as he attempts to grab a rebound. The female player is left writhing in pain on the court, holding her lower back in pain. In the wake of that game, Nassau County on Thursday became possibly the first municipality in the country to issue a ban on transgender athletes participating in females-only leagues.
The ban applies to all 100 of Nassau’s athletic facilities and goes into effect immediately. Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman appeared on 710 WOR’s Len Berman and Michael Riedel in the Morning program to explain why the county passed this legislation.
“If you are a biological male, you have an opportunity as a transgender to compete in sports, but be transparent about it,” Blakeman told Riedel and Larry Mendte, sitting in for Riedel. “You can compete in an all-male league. You can compete in a co-ed league. You just can’t compete in an all-girl’s or all-women’s league, because then you’re not being transparent. You’re a biological male, you have the competitive advantage, and it’s unfair to the women who want to compete against other women.”
New York Attorney General Letitia James has called the action “transphobic,” but Blakeman feels she is missing the point. “The Attorney General, I believe, misstated our position. I made it very clear that in Nassau County we’re accepting of all lifestyles… [but] we have to protect the girls and the women and make sure that they are competing against other biological females, because they put in hard work, they train, they get coached. This is a common-sense issue; it’s also a bullying issue. I feel that these women and these girls are being bullied, and that we will not tolerate in Nassau County.”
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