Liam Conner
A renewed fight for transgender rights is unfolding on Long Island, New York, as Nassau County lawmakers prepare to vote on whether to ban transgender athletes from competing on women’s teams at county-owned facilities.
In February, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman signed an executive order denying licenses for women’s or women’s sporting events with transgender participants, barring them from using the county’s more than 100 public facilities.
“We started hearing from a lot of girls and a lot of women that they felt it was very unfair and very unsafe for biological males to compete on what are classified as all-girls teams or all-female teams,” Blakeman said of her decision. .
The ban was a huge blow to the Long Island Roller Rebels, a roller derby team that counts several transgender players in its ranks.
“The starting point is understanding that trans women are women and that we should continue to categorize them as women,” said Amanda Urena, 33, president of the Long Island-based recreation group.
In March, the Roller Rebels, backed by the American Civil Liberties Union of New York, sued Nassau County over Blakeman’s executive order, arguing that the policy violated state human rights and civil rights laws.
Last month, a judge ruled that Blakeman acted “beyond the scope of his authority.”
Now, a similar measure is being considered by the Nassau County Legislature, which is made up of 12 Republicans and seven Democrats. The legislature’s rules committee voted in favor of the bill on Monday after it was introduced last week. The full vote is scheduled for June 24.
Gabriella Larios, an attorney with the New York Civil Liberties Union, believes that if the law passes, it will be overturned because it violates state anti-discrimination laws.
“In 2019, New York amended its Human Rights Law and its Civil Rights Law to explicitly prohibit discrimination against transgender people,” Larios said.
Nearly 150 anti-LGBTQ bills are being considered across the U.S., according to the ACLU. Of these, 21 target transgender athletes. Since Blakeman’s executive order, four other states have come closer to passing bills targeting transgender athletes.
Urena says the Roller Rebels’ fight is “about protecting people’s rights to be able to participate in activities that have been paid for by their communities through taxes.”
“We fully believe that we are in the right place in history and that we are defending Nassau County. We are defending people’s rights,” said Urena.
When asked what he would say to trans women who believe their rights are not being protected, Blakeman said, “What about women’s rights? Compete in a co-ed league, form a transgender league. We’re not anti-transgender. We’re pro- women.”
The Roller Rebels have bypassed the opposition for now by renting private spaces for their evening practices. In what they call the fight for justice, their attitude is: where there is a will, there is a way to continue.
Jericka Duncan
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