Olympian and reality TV star Caitlyn Jenner announced during a press conference Monday that she supports a local ordinance banning transgender women from competing in women’s sports.
Jenner joined Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman in Mineola as he announced a ban on biological males participating in women’s sports at county facilities.
The new law applies to all sports, including at the college level, but does not include mixed teams or cases where biological females wish to play male sports.
Per the county executive’s directive, any league or team seeking permission to use any of the county’s more than 100 facilities must declare that it excludes transgender athletes from participation on women’s teams.
“I’ve been playing sports my whole life,” Jenner said. “I have witnessed the growth, opportunity and protection of women’s sports, especially in this country with the passage of Title IV in 1972.”
Caitlyn Jenner announced during a press conference that she supports a local ordinance banning transgender women from competing in women’s sports.
At a news conference, Jenner joined Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman as he announced the ban.
The ban applies to all sports, including at the college level, but does not include mixed teams or cases where biological females wish to play male sports.
“I have shared my struggle with gender dysphoria my entire life. I decided to live my life publicly… as a trans person.
“I have empathy for all LGBT people and have a deep understanding of all struggles, no matter how different our circumstances may be.”
Jenner acknowledged that court systems and other legislative-executive bodies do not know how to handle the issue of transgender athletes in sports.
The former decathlon champion said there are “tremendous benefits and undeniable differences” when it comes to the biological realities that “result in physical harm when trans women, or biological men, participate in sports against women “.
She went on to say that the Biden administration is pushing for an amendment to Title IV, which effectively erases the protection and hard-fought battles in women’s sports.
The New York Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit, claiming the policy violated the state’s human rights and civil laws.
The president of the LGBT network responded in a statement saying that “Caitlyn Jenner’s support for anti-LGBT initiatives constitutes a disconcerting contradiction to her own identity and the struggles she has faced as a transgender woman.”
“Adopting policies or ideologies that undermine the rights and dignity of LGBTQ+ people is not only hypocritical, but also harmful. »
The ban would be the first of its kind in the United States.
Under the directive, any league or team seeking permission to use any of the county’s more than 100 facilities must declare that it excludes transgender athletes from participation on women’s teams.
“I have witnessed the growth, opportunity and protection of women’s sports, especially in this country with the passage of Title IV in 1972,” Jenner said.
Jenner acknowledged that court systems and other legislative-executive bodies do not know how to handle the issue of transgender athletes in sports.
The county executive referenced incidents of biological male athletes injuring female players, but said he was not aware of any similar incidents in Nassau County.
“We are not aware of any incidents in Nassau County, but we wanted to get a head start,” Blakeman said at a previous news conference.
On February 8, a Massachusetts high school girls’ basketball team was forced to forfeit after a transgender player on the opposing team injured three players.
The Collegiate Charter School of Lowell girls’ basketball team dropped its game against KIPP Massachusetts after one of the KIPP players, who is a biological male, injured three of its athletes.
Shocking video from the game shows the taller, bulkier transgender player snatching the ball from another player’s arms, forcing him to fall.
A North Carolina high school basketball player was seriously injured after a transgender girl threw a ball at her opponent, hitting her in the head.
Payton McNabb of Cherokee County said she suffered a concussion and neck injury in November 2022 after a transgender opponent threw a ball at her that struck her in the face.
