A challenge to Nassau's transgender athlete ban is going before an appeals court: What's at stake in the case?

An appeals court will hear oral arguments Thursday as to whether a Nassau ban on transgender athletes competing in certain sporting events at county facilities can remain in place while a challenge to the law proceeds in a lower court.

The hearing in the state Supreme Court’s Appellate Division in Brooklyn comes after a Supreme Court justice in Nassau County rejected in January the New York Civil Liberties Union’s request to halt the law while the case went on.

In 2024, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman signed the ban into law after a judge blocked an initial ban, enacted through executive order, that had not received legislative approval. 

The New York Civil Liberties Union, representing the Long Island Roller Rebels — a North Massapequa-based roller derby organization that has at least one participant banned under the law, filed a lawsuit against Blakeman, the county and its legislature last year. The challenge argued, among other things, that the ban could lead to "intrusive and inappropriate questioning" for anyone seeking to take part in sporting activities at county facilities.

Gabriella Larios, an NYCLU attorney who is representing the organization, called the county’s ban "government-sanctioned discrimination" that files in the face of the state’s anti-discrimination law.

"Our state law is one of the most robust in the country, and to have a local government that thinks it can ignore that to bully and target transgender women and girls is unacceptable under state law," Larios said in a phone interview, adding that the ban is "humiliating."

A spokesman for Blakeman did not respond to a Newsday request for comment on the lawsuit Wednesday. However, the county argued in a brief that it "enacted the law to preserve safety and competitive fairness for women and girls in sports and to protect taxpayers from the costs of potential injuries."

"Granting an injunction," the brief later read, "would undermine these important interests and disrupt the County’s ability to manage its limited recreational facilities for the maximum benefit of its residents, while [the] appellant would suffer no comparable harm."

Here are answers to some questions about the ban.

How does the ban work?

The ban, which went into effect amid a wave of anti-transgender legislation across several states, requires athletic entities and other organizations that seek to use the county’s premises for a competition identify the team as coed, male only or female only, court documents show.

The Nassau County Department of Parks, Recreation & Museums can’t provide a use permit for a sporting event for an organization in which people born as men compete with or against a female team, the lawsuit read.

Who has been impacted by the ban?

The ban impacts roughly 100 sporting facilities within the county, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit said the ban will impact a "wide range of groups" including public and private school athletic teams, recreational leagues and competitive leagues with their own rules about the "inclusion of transgender participants."

After the ban went into place, the Long Island Roller Rebels could not access county facilities for bouts, Larios said. Instead, they have been using private facilities, which are often limited in time and availability.

What’s next in the case?

The appellate court will eventually decide whether the injunction should be put in place. Meanwhile, the case is ongoing in the lower court.

"The appellate court's interpretation of the human rights law could really determine the outcome of what comes next in the lower court," Larios said.

Newsday's Nicholas Grasso contributed to this story.

By Tiffany Cusaac-Smith

tiffany.cusaac-smith@newsday.com@T_Cusaac

Tiffany Cusaac-Smith is a general assignment reporter for Newsday. She previously worked at USA TODAY and is an alum of Howard University.