Court: Bruce Blakeman lacked authority to issue ban of transgender athletes from county facilities

A state Supreme Court Justice on Friday struck down Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman's executive order barring transgender females from participating in girls' and women's sports played at county parks and facilities.

Blakeman signed an executive order on Feb. 22 barring transgender girls from participating in female sports played on county properties. Blakeman, a Republican, went "beyond the scope of his authority" in writing the order, State Supreme Court Justice Francis Ricigliano wrote in a 13-page decision issued Friday.

The New York Civil Liberties Union and the Long Island Roller Rebels, an all-female flat track roller derby team, had filed a lawsuit on March 11 saying that Blakeman's order violated the state's Human Rights Law and Civil Rights Law, as well as guidance from the state Education Department.

Blakeman's order, which he said was meant to protect female athletes from being bullied or hurt by "biological males," applied to more than 100 sites, including ballfields, basketball courts, and swimming pools. Organizations seeking county permits must “expressly designate” whether their players are male, female or coed based on their members' “biological sex at birth,” according to the executive order. The order does not apply to transgender boys seeking to play men's sports.

In a 13-page decision, Ricigliano wrote that Blakeman, “did not have the authority to issue the Executive Order. As such, it cannot be enforced.”

Ricigliano wrote that there was no law that allowed Blakeman, as county executive, to issue the order.

“With the stated goal of protecting women's and girls' rights to compete athletically, the County Executive issued an Executive Order aimed at preventing transgender women from participating in girls' and women's athletics at Nassau County parks, despite there being no corresponding legislative enactment providing the County Executive with the authority to issue such an order,” Ricigliano wrote. “In doing so, this Court finds the County Executive acted beyond the scope of his authority as the Chief Executive Officer of Nassau County.”

In reacting to the ruling on Saturday, Blakeman blamed a “lack of courage from a judge who didn’t want to decide the case on its merits."

"Unfortunately girls and women are hurt by the court," Blakeman said. "Nassau County will appeal without much faith in the Appellate Division applying the law without far-left doctrine being used to undermine women’s sports.”

Blakeman was widely rebuked for discriminating against transgender athletes, with advocates for civil rights and the LGBTQ community, along with Democratic elected officials, strongly condemning the first-term county executive.

Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, said Blakeman and Nassau Republicans had resorted to “bullying trans kids.”

Curly Fry, president of the Long Island Roller Rebels, said in a statement: “Today’s decision is a victory for those who believe that transgender people have the right to participate in sports just like everyone else. "

Fry continued: “As a league welcoming trans women and committed to providing a safe space for everyone to be their full selves, County Executive Blakeman’s order tried to punish us just because we believe in inclusion and stand against transphobia.”

The group is organizing women's roller derby expo games at county facilities and wanted to host an annual roller derby event in November at a county property. The group applied for a permit at the roller rink at Cedar Creek Park, as well as other facilities.

Blakeman's order has faced other legal setbacks.

In March, state Attorney General Letitia James sent Blakeman a cease-and-desist letter to stop the county from enforcing the order. Blakeman sued James in federal court over the cease-and-desist letter, but in April, a federal judge dismissed his challenge. The Floral Park parents of a 16-year-old girls volleyball player had joined Blakeman's suit.

James said on X: “This is a major victory. In New York, it is illegal to discriminate against a person because of their gender identity or expression.”

Blakeman has defended the executive order as a crucial way to protect women's sports. In doing so, he has modeled himself after other conservatives who have tried to limit transgender athletes' participation in sports and leaned into a prominent issue in the political culture wars.

He has not cited any examples of local transgender female athletes seeking to play on women's sports teams.

Blakeman said at a news conference in March that he was trying to prevent female athletes from “being bullied.”

“Women and girls are a protected class under federal law,” Blakeman said at the time. “Transgender women or biological males are not a protected class under federal law. So we need to make it very clear that we are adhering to federal law in protecting our women from being bullied, quite frankly, by biological males.”

With Robert Brodsky

By Scott Eidler

scott.eidler@newsday.com@ScottEidler

Scott Eidler is a deputy editor for the towns department at Newsday. Scott has worked at Newsday since 2012 and previously covered municipal government and education.