A New York appeals court on Wednesday struck down a ban on transgender athletes in Nassau County, delivering yet another blow to Bruce Blakeman, the county executive who lost the governor’s race to Kathy Hochul on Tuesday.
The lawsuit was brought by the New York Civil Liberties Union on behalf of a women’s roller derby league, the Long Island Roller Rebels, which welcomes transgender participants.
Mr. Blakeman signed a short-lived executive order in February 2024 barring athletic organizations with transgender girls and women from more than 100 county facilities. The order was struck down, but the County Legislature soon passed a broader ban, which the Roller Rebels challenged in court.
On Wednesday, the Second Department of the Appellate Division of the State Supreme Court found that both human rights law and civil rights law “expressly prohibit the county from restricting access to places of public accommodation based on a person’s gender identity or expression, including whether the person identifies as transgender.”
Thomas Adams, the Nassau County attorney, said in a statement that the county was “reviewing the decision with the intention to continue the appeals process.” Nassau County had not been able to enforce the ban since October last year, when the Roller Rebels were granted a preliminary injunction while the case proceeded.
In signing the order, Mr. Blakeman, a Republican, had staked out a position in the nationwide debate over how and when transgender athletes can participate in women’s sports, further aligning himself with the politics of President Trump. His entree into the cultural debate over transgender athletes also raised his national profile ahead of his run for governor.
But in May 2024, the Nassau County Supreme Court found that Mr. Blakeman had “acted beyond the scope of his authority” and that the right to pass such a ban rested with the County Legislature.
The next month, the majority-Republican Nassau County Legislature voted to bar transgender athletes from playing at county-owned facilities unless they competed on teams matching the gender they were assigned at birth or on coed teams. By October of that year, the Roller Rebels had filed suit against Nassau County, arguing that the ban violated the New York State Human Rights Law.
“This is an incredible victory for transgender people in New York, especially transgender women and girls in Nassau County,” Gabriella Larios, a senior staff attorney at the New York Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement. “Today, the court made it abundantly clear that any attempt to ban trans women and girls from public spaces in New York is prohibited by our state’s anti-discrimination laws.”
The Roller Rebels compete throughout the Northeast but are based in Massapequa, N.Y., and practice in Nassau County facilities in addition to privately run roller rinks. Members said the ban had shaken their sense of security in their home county, where the team has long been a bastion of L.G.B.T.Q. inclusivity.
“The Roller Rebels want trans women to know that they are welcome to join our league, and trans people belong in Nassau County,” Amanda Urena, the president of the Roller Rebels, who uses the derby name Curly Fry, said in a statement. “We deserve the joy of playing as our authentic selves, free from discrimination. Trans athletes aren’t going anywhere.”
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