New York is fighting Nassau’s common-sense protection for women’s sports

The appellate injunction has halted Nassau’s rule, while Attorney General Letitia James separately challenges it and Blakeman promises statewide protections.

A roller derby league’s challenge puts the female category on trial—and gives New York families a clear standard for their next governor. Nassau County’s protection for women’s sports deserves to survive Thursday’s appeals-court fight, which Bloomberg Law described as a hearing where the county’s lawyer “struggled to justify” the law¹. What requires justification: preserving a female category, or demanding that it admit males?

The rule requires teams seeking county facilities to designate themselves male, female or co-ed; female-designated teams cannot use those facilities if they admit males who identify as women². The challenger is the Long Island Roller Rebels, an adult women’s roller derby league based in Nassau County³.

The dispute turns on whether a team’s chosen label should override the sex category the county provides.

“this would change the identity of the league and would force its players to identify themselves as playing in a mixed-sex league.”

Appellate Division, Second Department

The county judge called the rule common sense

The Nassau County Legislature enacted its measure in June 2024 under a title promising a safe and fair competitive environment for women and girls³. That purpose deserves a rule capable of delivering it.

In his summary-judgment ruling, Nassau Supreme Court Justice R. Bruce Cozzens found that the law did not violate New York’s Human Rights Law. He also concluded: “Local Law 121-24 aligns with Title IX which permits biological sex-based distinctions in athletics.”³

That reasoning recognizes what parents need from a girls’ division: a dependable eligibility boundary, rather than a designation that changes whenever a team objects. Biological reality supplies that boundary. Gender identity cannot replace sex as the organizing principle without changing whom the category serves.

A public commitment to women’s sports must survive the first demand for an exception.

The injunction blocks Nassau’s sports rule

The Appellate Division, Second Department, granted a preliminary injunction blocking enforcement while the litigation proceeds, finding that the Roller Rebels showed a likelihood of success on their gender-identity discrimination claim⁴.

The court cited difficulty finding private practice facilities, reduced practice opportunities and a lower ranking. Its answer to the county’s mixed-sex alternative was that “this would change the identity of the league and would force its players to identify themselves as playing in a mixed-sex league.”⁴

That is the decisive conflict: the league wants its identity to control the classification. Difficulty finding practice space deserves consideration; it should not entitle a team to redefine the female category. Calling a mixed-sex roster mixed-sex accurately describes who competes.

New York Attorney General Letitia James is separately challenging the county law on the state’s behalf, Bloomberg Law reports⁵. State officials should defend the boundary, not help dismantle it.

Blakeman wants the protection statewide

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman is now the Republican nominee for governor². He has proposed statewide standards reserving girls’ bathrooms, locker rooms and overnight accommodations for biological females, according to the New York Post⁶.

His representatives said the pledge covers public-school students from kindergarten through 12th grade. Blakeman also pledged to prevent Albany from withholding funds or imposing other sanctions against districts seeking to keep males who identify as female out of female sports⁶.

That commitment deserves support—and a clear implementation plan. Families should not have to negotiate a daughter’s privacy school by school or defend her sports category permit by permit.

Parents and voters should demand direct answers from anyone seeking to govern New York: Will you preserve female-only sports? Will you reserve girls’ private spaces for biological females? Will you defend those protections when a lawsuit arrives?

New York is fighting Nassau’s common-sense protection for women’s sports

The county judge called the rule common sense

The injunction blocks Nassau’s sports rule

Blakeman wants the protection statewide

Sources