New York’s Recent Stance

Located in western Long Island, Nassau County shares its western border with New York City’s borough of Queens and its eastern border with Suffolk County on Long Island. Nassau County’s Executive Bruce Blakeman issued an executive order to prevent transgender women from participating in girls’ and women’s athletics at Nassau County parks, claiming to protect women’s and girls’ rights. He argued that biological differences between males and females could give transgender women an advantage in sports, leading to the issuance of the order. From this action, many in this county were negatively affected. For example, the roller derby league, which is inclusive of transgender women, was prevented from accessing facilities within Nassau County due to the executive order. Since many were being directly impacted from this ruling, the responses were quite controversial and polarized, prompting it to be brought up to the New York State Court.

The court ruled that the Executive Order exceeded the County Executive’s authority, as there was no legislative enactment granting such power. This effectively overturned Blakeman’s action, creating a bigger sense of equality for those that are transgender. An important distinction that needs to be made is that the court ruled on the idea of Blakeman overstepping his power, not ruling on any infringement on civil or human rights. By not directly ruling on civil or human rights violations, the court avoided making a judgment on the underlying controversy regarding transgender athletes’ participation in girls’ sports, making New York’s stance on this issue unclear. However, the public is interpreting this in a different way, a way that is beneficial to those that are transgender. This ruling naturally reinforces the rights of transgender individuals to participate in sports according to their gender identity, even though it did not directly rule that way. Further, this ruling can set a precedent for other jurisdictions, promoting greater acceptance of transgender athletes and shaping future policy decisions in sports.

To clear up New York’s stance on this issue to make sure that the interpretation of celebration the public maintains, there is many public policy approaches that can be made. First off, many individuals, citizens of the state, can push their representatives to propose bills that can make rules regarding transgender participation in sports. This way, legislation can be passed to achieve the implied results of the court.