New York Attorney General Letitia James on Friday sent Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman a cease-and-desist order threatening “decisive legal action” if the Republican official doesn’t “immediately rescind” his “transphobic and blatantly illegal” sports ban.
James’ strong words come just over a week after Blakeman announced that transgender athletes would no longer be allowed to compete in sports aligned with their gender identity at county-run facilities.
According to an executive order signed by Blakeman on Feb. 22, “any sports, leagues, organizations, teams, programs, or sports entities” must assign athletes to one of three categories based on their gender assigned at birth when applying for a permit to use Nassau County Parks property.
The categories are “males, men, or boys,” “females, women, or girls” or “coed or mixed, including both males and females” — which excludes transgender athletes.
The ban likely violates New York State anti-bias laws, which bar discrimination from public accommodations on the basis of “gender identity or expression.”
“The law is perfectly clear: you cannot discriminate against a person because of their gender identity or expression. We have no room for hate or bigotry in New York,” James said in a news release. “This executive order is transphobic and blatantly illegal. Nassau County must immediately rescind the order, or we will not hesitate to take decisive legal action.”
Blakeman, who announced the new policy at a ceremony in Mineola late last week, insisted the order was not designed to discriminate against anyone. Instead, it was put in place to prevent what he called “bullying” by transgender athletes playing in team sports that align with their gender identity.
But according to Friday’s cease-and-desist letter, the attorney general’s office says the policy “is in clear violation” of anti-discrimination laws in the state. It creates requirements that “effectively prohibit transgender women and girls, as well as teams that include or welcome them, from participating in women and girls’ sporting events” at any of the county’s approximately 100 facilities.
The executive order’s immediate effect, the office said, is to “force sports leagues to make an impossible choice”: either discriminate against trans women and girls in violation of New York law or find somewhere else to play..
Additionally, by requiring sports organizations to exclude transgender women and girls as a condition of using county-run facilities, the policy invites “invasive policing” of the sex and gender of both cisgender and transgender women.
“Pernicious discrimination such as this is precisely what New York’s Human and Civil Rights Laws proscribe,” the letter states.
Blakeman has five business days to respond to the letter “and rescind this unlawful order.” The county executive was also asked to “immediately produce” any documents explaining his decision to issue the order in the first place.
“Failure to comply with this directive may result in further legal action by the [attorney’s general office],” the notification states.
Blakeman, who has yet to comment on James’ demands, has scheduled a news briefing for Friday afternoon.
