Crowd chants, 'Shame!' as Nassau County passes ban on transgender athletes

Nassau County lawmakers passed a ban on transgender girls and women using public athletic facilities by a vote of 12 to 6, prompting a group of protesters to stand up and yell "Shame! Shame! Shame!"

MINEOLA, Long Island (PIX11) -- A ban on transgender girls and women using public sports facilities in Nassau County is passed into law -- again. 

The Nassau County Legislature passed the transgender ban along party lines by a vote of 12 to 5. Two legislators were absent at the time of the vote. 

The legislature had to take up the measure in the latest development. Back in February, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman first introduced it as an executive order. Then, the Nassau County Supreme Court overturned the ban, saying it had to be introduced into law through the legislature. 

Its members did that late Monday afternoon, and the reaction in the legislative chamber's gallery was intense. 

"Shame! Shame! Shame! Shame!" a couple dozen people in attendance shouted at the elected officials. All of the Republicans on the panel voted in favor of the ban. 

"We're looking at a situation where we're being legislated out of visibility if you will," said Juli Grey-Owens, executive director of Gender Equality NY, in an interview minutes after the vote. 

"They have never thought about that five-year-old trans girl who just wants to play with her friends on the soccer field," said Grey-Owens, "and now won't be able to do that."

Blakeman, the county executive, held a news conference a few hours before the vote and said, "We look forward to litigating the issue," in anticipation of the ban being rechallenged in court.

He said that of the hundreds of calls he's taken in the months since he first introduced the ban, about "eight out of ten" favor it. 

He's expected to sign the measure into law soon.