New York court strikes down girls’ sports protections. Letitia James calls it a win.
James says transgender athletes have a right to play; Nassau’s county attorney says the county intends to appeal the ruling that struck down its girls’ sports law.
A court removed Nassau’s sex-based sports safeguard; the county intends to keep appealing.1
Girls’ sports should be reserved for girls. On Nov. 4, 2026, a unanimous four-judge panel of New York's Appellate Division, Second Department, struck down Nassau County Local Law No. 3-2024, which barred males who identify as women from women's and girls' teams using county-run facilities. The panel reversed Justice R. Bruce Cozzens' Oct. 15, 2025 ruling upholding the law, holding it preempted by the state Human Rights Law and Civil Rights Law § 40-c2. On Nov. 4, 2026, New York Attorney General Tish James said her office won a lawsuit against @NassauExec over the county executive’s transgender-athlete ban: “We won our lawsuit against @NassauExec over his unlawful transgender athlete ban.” James also declared, “Transgender athletes have the right to play on the court or field like everyone else.”3 For families counting on a female division for their daughters, James’s victory puts that protection on the losing side. On Nov. 5, 2026, ICONS (@icons_women) said, “Girls deserve fair competition.”
“Transgender athletes have the right to play on the court or field like everyone else.”
The court struck down Nassau’s rule
The safeguard James challenged was Nassau County Local Law No. 3-2024, which barred female-designated teams that included biological males from using county park property for competition2. A unanimous four-judge panel of the Appellate Division, Second Department, reversed the lower court’s decision upholding it, OutKick reported1.
The panel held that Nassau’s permitting scheme conflicted with the state Human Rights Law and Civil Rights Law § 40-c and was therefore preempted2.
James puts inclusion ahead of girls’ teams
James said, “As long as I am attorney general, no New Yorker will be shut out of public life because of who they are.”3
But access to public life does not settle eligibility for a girls’ team. If every claim of identity overrides the sex boundary, what protection does the word “girls” provide? A female division has a purpose: preserving a competitive category for female athletes. James’s argument makes that purpose yield to transgender ideology, leaving girls to surrender the boundary their division was established to maintain.
Girls deserve fair competition
Families should not have to choose between supporting opportunities for every athlete and defending a separate category for their daughters.
A girls’ division cannot serve its purpose if officials refuse to recognize biological reality when setting eligibility. The obligation belongs to the adults writing those rules, not to girls asked to absorb the consequences.
Nassau should keep defending girls’ teams
Nassau County Attorney Thomas Adams signaled that the county would continue the fight: “We are reviewing the decision with the intention to continue the appeals process,” he told OutKick1. Nassau should follow through. State lawmakers should also protect sex-based sports divisions, so a county’s effort to preserve girls’ competition is supported by state law rather than defeated by it.
Sources
- JACKSON THOMPSON: Democrat-appointed judges hand Letitia James win over county trying to protect girls sports | OutKick
- Supreme Court of the State of New York
- @NewYorkStateAG on X, 2026-11-04: We won our lawsuit against @NassauExec over his unlawful transgender athlete ban. Transgender athletes have the right to play on the court or field like everyone else. As long as I am attorney general, no New Yorker will be shut out of public life because, 2026-11-04
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