Olympic gold medalist Caitlyn Jenner made headlines on Monday by backing a local New York official’s directive to ban female sports teams with transgender athletes from utilising county-owned facilities.
The prohibition affects more than a hundred sports facilities in the Long Island suburbs of New York City. Speaking with Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman at his Mineola office, Jenner said that permitting herself and other transgender athletes to play against women would “ruin women’s sports” in the long run.
The reality television personality came out as a transgender woman in 2015. She went on to add: “Let’s stop it now while we can.”
The LGBT Network is an advocacy group based in Long Island. They rebuked Jenner’s remarks, labeling them as contradictory to her own transgender identity and potentially detrimental to the LGBTQ community at large.
David Kilmnick is the president of the organization. He expressed disappointment at Jenner’s stance, citing it as not only hypocritical but also harmful to the progress of inclusivity within the LGBTQ community.
He said: “It is disheartening to witness someone who has experienced the challenges of being marginalized actively contribute to the oppression of others within the same community. Such actions only serve to amplify the voices of intolerance and detract from the collective efforts towards a more inclusive society.”
Blakeman issued an executive order earlier this year mandating explicit designation of teams by gender when seeking permits from the county’s parks and recreation department. If transgender athletes are permitted to compete for any teams labeled as “female,” such teams will not be granted permission.
According to Blakeman, the goal of the ban is to prevent injuries to children and women who play against transgender women while also encouraging fair play. However, other non-contact sports like track, gymnastics, swimming, and figure skating are all included by his executive order.