I must say, this story lends an entirely new meaning to the term "roller derby queen." In Nassau County, New York, a women's roller derby league is suing to force the county to allow transgender women — in other words, men — to play on the Roller Rebels roller derby team.
A women’s roller derby league has asked a New York court to invalidate a Republican official’s order banning female sports teams with transgender athletes from using county facilities, saying it violates state law.
The lawsuit, filed Monday in state court on behalf of the Long Island Roller Rebels, argues that the state’s human rights and civil rights statutes explicitly prohibit discrimination based on gender identity.
It’s the latest salvo in a battle over an executive order issued Feb. 22 by Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman that covers more than 100 athletic facilities in the densely populated county next to New York City, including ballfields, basketball and tennis courts, swimming pools and ice rinks.
Here's the key point of this executive order, which can be viewed in its entirety here:
Any teams designated as “female” would be denied permits if they allow transgender athletes to participate. The ban doesn’t apply to men’s teams with transgender athletes.
Here's the thing: The ban doesn't apply to men's teams with transgender athletes, because the transgender athletes in question are either 1) dudes, or 2) women who will present no competition to the men in the competition. That is because, as I've said until I'm blue in the face, men have significant advantages in speed, strength, and endurance over women.
These are facts.
Roller derby sure seems like a sport where speed, strength, and endurance would be key assets, and also, as a contact sport, it seems like a sport where women, placed on the rink with men, would be in danger of injury.
These are facts.
The plaintiffs in this case made some interesting claims:
“This cruel policy sends the dangerous message that trans people don’t belong in Nassau County,” Amanda “Curly Fry” Urena, a member of the Roller Rebels, said in a statement. “We hope the court sees this policy for what it is — transphobic and unjust — and makes sure Nassau County is a safe space for trans, non-binary, and gender-expansive people.”
This is, of course, inaccurate in every particular. Nassau County's policy does not send any message that "...trans people don't belong in Nassau County." It's likely the vast majority of Nassau County doesn't care one way or another. It does send the message, appropriately, that it's outrageously unfair to have men playing on women's sports teams, especially in a high-speed, combative test of strength and endurance, like, say, roller derby. This policy is not transphobic, as there is no "irrational fear" of transgender people expressed, and it is the opposite of unjust, in seeking to make sure women only compete against other women.
Amanda "Curly Fry" Urena (I swear, you just can't make this stuff up) is just plain wrong. The New York Civil Liberties Union, which is the New York affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) can always be relied on to take the wrong side on this issue; this is not an issue of civil liberties so much as biology, and the NYCLU is just plain on the wrong side.
See Related: Indiana Republicans Score Big Win Against 'Gender-Affirming Care' for Children, ACLU Responds
Sudden Rush of Good Sense: Women's Pro Golf Tour Defends Transgender Ban
Various states and counties around the country are starting to wake up to this nonsense. If the Nassau County policy is somehow overturned, it is only a matter of time before a woman on one of the teams is injured, perhaps seriously. It's already happened, in fact:
- In 2022, a girl on a girl's volleyball team was injured when a boy, claiming to be a girl, spiked a ball into her head.
- Last year, a girl on a girl's field hockey team was injured by a male player who hit the ball into her face.
- And only days ago, a girl's basketball team forfeited a game after three — three — of their players were injured by a boy on the opposing team.
These things really happened. While sports injuries, in general, are not uncommon, these are particularly egregious, as the girls who have been injured suffered due to facing a player with — I'll say it again — a significant advantage in speed, strength, and endurance, and that's grossly unfair and, as we've seen, dangerous.
Roller derby is, in particular, a high-speed test of strength and endurance. This will not end well, no matter how, shall we say, robust the average woman roller derby player is, they are still at a serious disadvantage against a male player.
Jim Croce was unavailable for comment.
